“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,”
Are you obedient? I didn’t think so. We might obey in some things, but if you’re anything like me, our obedience isn’t real reliable or complete. This is sin.
Remember the verse “children, obey your parents?” It’s touched on in the ten commandments, and it’s repeated throughout the old and new testaments. Being mentioned so often, you might get the idea that it’s important, wouldn’t you?
It is. And here’s why. First, God put your parents over you to teach you and model a godly relationship for you.
Secondly, your parents represent your relationship to God. We are to obey our earthly parents just as we are to obey our heavenly father, loving and honoring them with our actions, words, and lives.
So, now that we’ve got the obedience thing out of the way, let’s look at the rest of what Peter wants to tell us today.
Peter is doing two things here. He wants to keep us on the path of obedience and he wants to remind us what disobedience looks like. He isn’t just talking here about a single incidence of disobedience, but an attitude of disobedience.
Before we had a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we were disobedient. Not just doing things wrong, but not even playing for the right team. We couldn’t be obedient to God, because sin was a part of who we were. Jesus took care of that on the cross. He died and took our wraith for us.
As Paul puts it, the old man died, and we were brought from the kingdom of sin and death to the kingdom of life and righteousness.
Peter is reminding us to be obedient, because when we aren’t obedient, we look just like we did before we came to know Christ. Remember what that was like? We were headed to hell. Our obedience to Christ further reinforces the message of the gospel for all to see: Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection is the power over death and into life.
CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLE: Before we were obedient to God, we were slaves to our passions and to sin. Jesus freed us from the domain of darkness. Our obedience to Him shows that and reinforces the gospel as we speak it.
Here’s a set of verses to meditate on today: Romans 5
Prayer: Father, thank you from rescuing me from the kingdom of sin and death. Help me to be obedient to you that I may be a witness for your Son’s death, burial, and resurrection. In Christ’s name, amen.
Showing posts with label Sin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sin. Show all posts
Monday, May 17, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Day 10: Matthew 5:4
“Blessed are those who mourn, because they will be comforted."
If you’ve ever lost someone that was close to you, you know what mourning is. It’s that deep feeling of intense loss and pain coupled with the fact that it will be a long time before you see them again. Mourning is a God-given emotion that he built into us for the times when we lose something dear to us. So, is the loss of a loved one what Jesus is talking about when He says “blessed are those who mourn”? Not exactly.
There’s a different kind of mourning, one that has nothing to do with losing a loved one, but one that God expects us to experience anyway. God expects us to mourn when we see evil in the world. He expects us to mourn when we see injustice. He expects us to mourn when we meet the lost. And God expects his leaders to lead this kind of mourning.
So many of us are so wrapped up in keeping our bellies full, our pockets line, and worrying about ourselves that we miss the aspect of mourning in our lives. Everytime we see someone sin, we should mourn that the godly thing wasn’t done. Everytime we see someone who isn’t getting enough to eat, we should mourn that fact. When we see that someone is treated badly because of their skin color, because of their beliefs, or because of where they are from, we should mourn. When we see a land where God is not honored, we should mourn. You get the picture.
As a leader, we are especially called by God to mourn these things. In the book of Amos, God promises to destroy Israel because the leaders there wouldn’t mourn the sin of their people. Leaders, you have to be so selfless and so attuned to the world around you that you can mourn.
Those that mourn usually are the ones to do something to change the situation. If we’re not mourning, chances are real good that you don’t care enough about the situation that you’d follow God and do something about it.
So, how will we be comforted? Well, here on earth, we’ll be comforted as we see the Kingdom of God advanced and evil turned back. We may even take part in changing a situation we had mourned for. Not bad for comforting. And of course, in heaven, there will be no mourning. Everything will be perfect, there will be no need for it.
CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLE: We have to focus on the world. We need to mourn for all the evil in it. Evil should make us literally sick to our stomach. We should allow God to turn our mourning into action, and show us how to correct the situation.
Here’s a set of verses to meditate on today: Amos 5, 6:1-7.
Prayer: Father, give me a heart that is attuned to mourning. Help me to put aside my own problems, to look upon the world, and mourn over what is evil. Lord, give me a heart for what is wrong in the world and the courage to fix it for Your glory and in Your Name. In Christ’s name I pray, amen.
If you’ve ever lost someone that was close to you, you know what mourning is. It’s that deep feeling of intense loss and pain coupled with the fact that it will be a long time before you see them again. Mourning is a God-given emotion that he built into us for the times when we lose something dear to us. So, is the loss of a loved one what Jesus is talking about when He says “blessed are those who mourn”? Not exactly.
There’s a different kind of mourning, one that has nothing to do with losing a loved one, but one that God expects us to experience anyway. God expects us to mourn when we see evil in the world. He expects us to mourn when we see injustice. He expects us to mourn when we meet the lost. And God expects his leaders to lead this kind of mourning.
So many of us are so wrapped up in keeping our bellies full, our pockets line, and worrying about ourselves that we miss the aspect of mourning in our lives. Everytime we see someone sin, we should mourn that the godly thing wasn’t done. Everytime we see someone who isn’t getting enough to eat, we should mourn that fact. When we see that someone is treated badly because of their skin color, because of their beliefs, or because of where they are from, we should mourn. When we see a land where God is not honored, we should mourn. You get the picture.
As a leader, we are especially called by God to mourn these things. In the book of Amos, God promises to destroy Israel because the leaders there wouldn’t mourn the sin of their people. Leaders, you have to be so selfless and so attuned to the world around you that you can mourn.
Those that mourn usually are the ones to do something to change the situation. If we’re not mourning, chances are real good that you don’t care enough about the situation that you’d follow God and do something about it.
So, how will we be comforted? Well, here on earth, we’ll be comforted as we see the Kingdom of God advanced and evil turned back. We may even take part in changing a situation we had mourned for. Not bad for comforting. And of course, in heaven, there will be no mourning. Everything will be perfect, there will be no need for it.
CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLE: We have to focus on the world. We need to mourn for all the evil in it. Evil should make us literally sick to our stomach. We should allow God to turn our mourning into action, and show us how to correct the situation.
Here’s a set of verses to meditate on today: Amos 5, 6:1-7.
Prayer: Father, give me a heart that is attuned to mourning. Help me to put aside my own problems, to look upon the world, and mourn over what is evil. Lord, give me a heart for what is wrong in the world and the courage to fix it for Your glory and in Your Name. In Christ’s name I pray, amen.
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