What are we listening to, today?

Yesterday we focused on how we need to recharge to be used by God.....oh, how we need Him!

Guided thoughts no. 24

Many of us carry "smart" mobile phones these days. I resisted for quite a while, but gave in when promised "Face" time with kids, if I purchased one to take the place of my older cell phone. We won't go into whether or not that time together materialized. (Grin)

These things run on batteries, no? Don't ya hate it when you glance down at it and the little symbol for "I've almost run out of juice, please charge me up!" is showing on the screen? Or when you get past that point and it just plain gives out? Oy.

Recently, someone in our family purchased an all electric vehicle. It should work out alright, since their daily commute to work is just twelve miles, round trip. But what if there is a need to go somewhere else? The grocery store? The doctor?

What if when they jump in and buckle up, the display reads "Low battery life"?

I wonder if that is how God feels sometimes when He looks at us? He has given us a task, and He looks down and we are moving in slow motion......if we are moving at all.

Do we pay attention to recharging our spiritual batteries? Many missed opportunities to serve the Lord come from not being fully charged and ready to work for Him!
How do we "charge our batteries"?  We know how to keep ourselves physically ready. Our tummies remind us that we need to eat. Our levels of fatigue tell us we need recuperative sleep.  Those are physical preparations.....what about the spiritual?

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ (Matthew 4:4)

Here is where Jesus was quoting from:

He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. (Deuteronomy 8:3)

Jesus is telling us that we need to pay attention to the spiritual regimen that will renew our souls, just as food and sleep renew our bodies. Like the electric car that needs to be plugged in to recharge, so we also need to be "plugged in" to recharge our spiritual batteries for each day.

The best possible life for a believer starts and continues with Jesus' instructions for a daily connection and study in God's Word. Unless we recharge, and renew our minds and feed our souls, there will be some point during the day when we stop working correctly. It will be that time that the Lord sees an "out of power" or "unusable" signal from us -- and we will miss out on the benefits of working for Him in His strength.

Do you long to have the kind of power that Isaiah mentioned?

He gives strength to the weary    and increases the power of the weak.  Even youths grow tired and weary,    and young men stumble and fall;  but those who hope in the Lord    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;    they will run and not grow weary,    they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:29-31)

Are you tired? Are you weary? It's time for us to soar with eagles! Being tired isn't always a physical thing....sometimes weariness is in our minds and in our attitudes.....we need recharging! We may be carrying a load that we don't need to bear: worry, fear, anxiety, apprehension. If we try to face life by being strong on our own, we will come to a point where we can go no further. We will want to give up.  In our lives, we know there will be difficulties, temptations, and stress.

Here are two things we need to take care of, in order to recharge and be ready:
First, have we lost our close fellowship with God? Have we lost our enthusiasm? The Bible translators called it "zeal." When we lose our desire for God, other things take His place in our hearts. But if we draw close to the Lord, the things of this world lose their power and strength over us.
Second, have we experienced a past that is filled with regrets? Are we holding onto that pain? If we are focused on the past, it's just impossible to receive that fresh, new strength from Him. Our future is going to be better than our past! We have everything to look forward to -- and reading in His Word and finding and remembering His promises.....that's the way to move on, and to have spiritual power.

Are our spiritual batteries charged up for today?

Friday slowdown

Becoming more like Him....

Becoming more holy....

But thank God.... praise Jesus that He starts with us just as we are!

How in the world can we be holy? (finish)

Today we'll focus on what might be the most important way that we can pursue a holy lifestyle in the midst of an unholy world..... we need to be growing in our personal knowledge of God's holiness.

Let that sink in.
We need to grow.
We need to increase in our personal knowledge of God.
And we need to be more and more aware of His holiness.
(And that makes us more and more aware of our own shortcomings.)

But don't think I'm a Debbie-downer here. Quite the contrary! The more we realize how holy He is, and how sinful we are, the more we understand His tremendous love and grace for us!! And that is a joyful thing!
Now that we've cleared that up, let's move forward. (Grin)
Both the phrase in I Peter, and the one in Leviticus imply that we know our Father, and that we know His holiness:

But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” (I Peter 1:15-16)

“Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy." (Leviticus 19:2)

The life of a believer is one of growing to know our Father better and better, on a personal level. How do we get to know Him better?
I'm glad you asked. (Grin) Because there are many ways to learn more about our Father God, His Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The most definitive way, of course, is through a personal relationship with Christ. Acknowledging His sacrifice and our unworthiness due to sin, and then accepting His salvation and indwelling is the A number 1 way to begin to know God. But as we mature in our relationship, we will see and know God in other ways, too.....

The Word of God....the Bible is His book, and reveals Him to us. It's oh, so important to study and learn from the Word.
Nature.....Romans 1 says that we can see God, know Him spontaneously in the world He created.
Art and music that is crafted for His glory can draw us closer to Him, as well.
Conscience is the voice of the Spirit. It speaks to us and reveals His guidance in many situations.
Experience....God's hand moving in our lives as we pray and obey His Word, will reveal Him to us as He shows His compassion and takes care of us.
Other believers can reveal God to us. They are like mirrors as they strive to live and love in this unholy world; they can keep us accountable.
And prayer.... on our knees literally or figuratively, we can meet with God and learn more about Him and His will for our lives.
When it's our desire to live holy lives in an unholy world, we need to seek His face, and learn more about His holiness:

Show me your ways, Lord,    teach me your paths.5 Guide me in your truth and teach me,    for you are God my Savior,
    and my hope is in you all day long. (Psalm 25:4-5)

I rejoice in following your statutes    as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate on your precepts    and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees;    I will not neglect your word.Your statutes are my delight;    they are my counselors.Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees,    that I may follow it to the end. Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law    and obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of your commands,    for there I find delight. (Psalm 119:14-16, 24, 33-35)

Praying over our Bible studies will reveal Him to us as never before. If we truly seek Him, we will learn more about Him and we will find Him. That is a promise.
Many of us find the promise in Jeremiah familiar -- He has plans for us....but check out the next verses after that with me:

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, (Jeremiah 29:11-14a)

Are we seeking Him with all our heart?
I'm concerned that in this day, many believers are shallow in their knowledge of God. They talk about Him without any reverence for the awesomeness of His power and His holiness. Come on, people, many times when someone got a glimpse of Christ after His resurrection, they fell on their face in awe and reverence! Do we have that kind of feeling when we consider Him? Think about an Old Testament example -- Isaiah had a vision of God on His throne; the angels were crying out, "Holy, holy, holy." It was an incredible experience, and brought home to the prophet the immensity of his sin, and the sins of his people.

I'll repeat what I began with......when we learn more about the holiness of God, we'll learn more about our sins, too. And then we will revel in the amazing grace of a holy God Who saved us through the cross of Jesus Christ.
Surely that knowledge will transform us; we can never be as holy as God is holy, but we can grow in personal holiness as we grow in our relationship with Him.

Thanks for sticking with me as we spent two weeks on this passage! I learned a lot....hope you found something useful here, too!

How in the world can we be holy? (almost done)

Monday, we discussed how being obedient to the Father would help us live a holy lifestyle, and one way to focus on obedience was to give up our former lifestyle....the way we were before we were believers. Today we'll continue ......

We need to be able to look back on our old habits, our old selfish ways; what should we see, looking forward? Well, we need to establish some good habits, habits of obedience.
Here are our verses again:

As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” (I Peter 1:14-16)

See where Peter says, "as obedient children"?  We can't really tell from the English here, but my commentary told me that it's a Hebrew expression that carries a thought of ongoing activity. It means more like, " habitual obedience" -- something that is a habit, part of our lives, an everyday thing. The long and the short of it is this: God is our heavenly Father, and we want to obey Him. His Word tells us how He wants us to live, speak, behave, etc.  Our obedience to Him, and to His Word, ought to be an automatic response. Now, I'm not talking about legalism here. And I'm not talking about believers acting like robots, either! I'm talking about the everyday habits of folks who are saved by His grace, and who are grateful for that salvation.

Peter quotes from the Old Testament here, specifically from the Law in Leviticus:

The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the entire assembly of Israeland say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy." (Leviticus 19:1-2)

We are longer bound by the ceremonial or civil laws of Israel. We don't have all of the intricate rituals of sacrifice and penance that they had. But God's law and guidelines for our lives originate in His holy nature, and that is just as applicable under grace as it was under law. Paul addressed this for us, since he knew that believers would be asking:

To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. (I Corinthians 9:21)

To break it down into its most simple terms, we are God's children. We need to get in the habit of looking at a situation, and asking ourselves, "What does God's Word say about this?" And then we should obey.

There is another key to holy living that we should discuss.... Peter says to be holy "in all your behavior." That's another one of Peter's favorite words -- he uses it six times in I Peter, and twice more in II Peter....and there are only five other places it's found! We've said before that this word behavior means more than just the surface meaning here; it refers to our conduct, and how we live our lives. Today we'd use the word "lifestyle."
So Peter links "holiness" and "behavior," and he also inserts a very small word with a very big impact: "all."  This is significant for two reasons....first, there were some pagan religions of the time that separated their cult activities and worship from their everyday lives. Second, believers at this time were probably struggling with the same issue that we do nowadays -- we tend to make a distinction between sacred and secular.
Maybe we aren't doing what we talked about last week, and fighting in the car all the way to church, and then pasting on smiles and walking in to worship. Maybe we aren't carousing on Saturdays and going to church on Sundays.
But does our separation unto God (and our desire to live for Him) affect every area of our lives? Should there be any area of our lives that we do not open to His will, and our obedience?

Many people know the author, J. I. Packer, for his book, "Knowing God." He has written many others, but one that I found and enjoyed was "A Quest for Godliness." And it spoke to me as it paralleled our study, where we are exploring the desire for a holy life. I would encourage you to find a copy and read it; I feel you will be blessed, too. Packer contrasts the depth of Puritan spiritual life with the superficiality of modern (Western) Christianity.  He opens up their lives to us, their view of the Word, the Sabbath, social interactions, and the family. His conclusion? "There was for them no disjunction between sacred and secular; all creation, so far as they were concerned, was sacred, and all activities, of whatever kind, must be sanctified, that is, done to the glory of God." (pg 23)

Wow. What if we did as the Puritans, and as I believe Peter is guiding us to do, and take a big, pink eraser to the line we have drawn between sacred and secular?
One thing is for sure: that kind of dedicated living will eliminate hypocrisy!
There is nothing that turns people off more than to see someone who professes (sometimes loudly) to be a Christian, but whose lifestyle totally denies it. This doesn't mean, however, that we must be perfect -- it means that we should live with integrity, confessing our sins when we "blow it." If we make our Christianity practical, and bring it into every part of our lives, then we'll have no room for disobedience. We will obey Him in all of our lives.

Verses that inspire us

Oh, the gems that we find (and find again) when we study the Word!

We'll study these verses again soon, but here's what I read recently and it was a blessing to me:

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (I Peter 2:9-10)

We are chosen!

We belong to the Lord because He loves us. He wants us to be His.

Not like the last kid left when choosing sides on the playground, and we walk bashfully over to our team, knowing that we were not really chosen.....we just ended up here because we were "left over."

Nope.

The Lord loves us, and He has chosen us. Why? So that we can declare His praises!!

Are we declaring His praises today?

I hope we all are!

If a verse has blessed you recently, won't you leave a comment and draw our attention to it?

How in the world can we be holy? (continuing)

We are still working on this concept of how to be holy people. It's not easy, but it's do-able!
Let's dig in, again!
We are focused on these verses this week:

As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” (I Peter 1:14-16)

The second word there is an amazingly large clue. It's almost as if it is written in neon (oh, I forgot, some of you are too young to know what that is....it's like a huge, blinking sign!) and draws our attention. Shade your eyes from the blinky light, and let's explore this, OK?

First, Peter tells us that we need to make a break with our past lifestyle. Uh oh. We don't want to hear that, do we? In fact, being obedient to God in "all of life" just may not appeal. We want to stay in the driver's seat!

What does he mean, "do not be conformed to the evil desires....when you lived in ignorance"? My commentaries wanted me to compare that word "conformed" to another instance in the New Testament. In fact, it's the only other time that the word is used in the New Testament, and it's in one of Paul's letters:

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2)

I want to go a little off track here, to illustrate a point.....bear with me. In the upper Midwest of the United States, there is a state called Wisconsin. They are known for the rolling hills dotted with dairy farms, and the foremost product there is cheese. Know how cheese is made?
Starting with milk, there are good bacteria added, and rennet, to make "curds" that can be pressed into actual cheese. The curds are put into a mold and a press comes down and squishes it (I hope you appreciate the research that gave us that technical term) and the excess water is mooshed out (another technical term). After the excess moisture is gone, the cheese will retain that shape and be cured, to give us the blocks and shreds that we purchase at the store.
Kinda like the old butter molds that people used. Same concept. Press into a mold and make the product look like you want it.

In the same way, the world would love to squeeze us into its own mold. It will try really hard to do so. The pressure can be intense! But Peter and Paul are both telling us here that it's important to resist that pressure. To let God change us from within.
Our past lifestyle was marked by our constant efforts to fulfill selfish desires (v 14). Other translations use the word "lusts" where the NIV says "evil desires." You see, the word "lusts" doesn't only refer to sexual desire, but to all kinds of selfishness. Wealth, power, pleasure. All of those. Every time we are seeking to gratify ourselves, or elevate ourselves over others. That word lust makes us think more of the very strong tug that can be exerted by temptations and sins. Those feelings and desires have free rein in unbelievers -- Peter says it's because they are ignorant of God, His holiness, and His grace.
But as Christians, we should be growing in our knowledge of God. We no longer have to be controlled by selfish desires. In fact, we should make a break with those self-centered thoughts, and the "me, me, me" living that marked us before we met Christ. We can live for His purposes, not for our own.

I kinda think that this explains some of the shallow Christianity that we see in folks today. I wonder if people "invite" Jesus into their heart without really knowing what that means. They are told that He will give them abundant life. They think, "Cool!" and never move out of the driver's seat of their life.

If they like what Jesus is doing for them, and they think they are better off now than before, they'll stick with Him. Let Him stay "in office."
But they've never really made a break with their past life. They've not repented of the sins in their lives, and they've never yielded control to Jesus, and made Him Lord of their lives. They are still right there in the driver's seat, and running their own lives. They are living for the same desires that they lived for before. I know it's not politically correct, but I'm going to lay it on the line here....
That isn't saving faith.
It just isn't.
Saving faith means repentance.

But unless you repent, you too will all perish. (Luke 13:3b)

It means turning away from our sin.

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, (Acts 3:19)

And it means trying to live for Him, for His purposes.

If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. (Romans 14:8)

Making a break with our past lifestyle is a good first step in trying to live the holy life that Peter is talking about!