Now this is the word

 

"Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you."

1 Peter 1:13-25

New King James Version (NKJV)

¹³ Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; ¹⁴ as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; ¹⁵ but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, ¹⁶ because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."

¹⁷ And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; ¹⁸ knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. ²⁰ He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you ²¹ who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

²² Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, ²³ having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, ²⁴ because

"All flesh is as grass,
And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.
The grass withers,
And its flower falls away,
²⁵ But the word of the Lord endures forever."

Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.

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I love verse 1 "Therefore gird up the loins of your mind" The word Gird is translated as follows in the English Dictionary:

 

 

And in the Strong's it has it as the follow:

anabainō

an-ab-ah'ee-no

From G303 and the base of G939; to go up (literally or figuratively): - arise, ascend (up), climb (go, grow, rise, spring) up, come (up).

 

"You were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ," Peter was writing to the churches in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, he was reminding them of their calling and that they were chosen and called by God. It was God who redeemed them back to himself through the sacrifice and blood of His son Jesus Christ and not with corruptible things such as silver or gold.

 

In verse 3-5 we read the following: "^3-5 Thank God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that in his great mercy we men have been born again into a life full of hope, through Christ's rising again from the dead! You can now hope for a perfect inheritance beyond the reach of change and decay, "reserved" in Heaven for you.'

We all need Hope and sometimes we place our hope in the things of the flesh and it we fail. But Hope placed in God and His promises are eternal and builds us up and makes us renew our strength. Humans have definitions of hope that are different from God's. We might hope our Rugby team wins the World Cub, or we might hope we don't lose our jobs or our house. But the biblical definition of hope is not a hope-so but a know-so. Our hope in God is surer than the sun rising in the morning. Just read these verses of hope and put yourself or your own name in the place of "I" or "we". Where is hope found? It is in the Bible, the Word of God. Psalm 119:74 "I have put my hope in your word", in Psalm 119:81 "… I have put my hope in your word", and in Psalm 130:5  "… in his word I put my hope".

This is how we gird up our minds, we look to God, our thoughts and Hopes are always focus on the things from above rather than this world. When a person reads the Word of God (Bible) they can know for certain that they have a secure and certain future.

I love the following verses: "²² Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, ²³ having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,

1. We have been born again of Incorruptible seed.

 

No one can corrupt God's word, it has stood the test of time and the adversary has tried but God's word remains. It's His seed and The seed is the message of God – John 8:4-15. And in this message we all found salvation, freedom and knowing who our Father really is. Paul found out something about the flesh and I love this verse as it describes exactly what the flesh is.

 

Let's go to:

Romans 7:18 – New King James Version (NKJV)

¹⁸ For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.

The rest of the verses are below, where Paul shows us how to overcome the weakness of the flesh. Let's take a look:

¹⁹ For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. ²⁰ Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

²¹ I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. ²² For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. ²³ But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴ O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵ I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

The answer is given in verse 24, when we understand what happened to us the day we confessed Christ as Our Lord and Saviour we will live Victorious in this life. We can live in this life a life with peace, harmony, joy and everything good that you can think of right now. Our outward circumstances may be exceptionally painful and difficult to deal with, but because of hope we still have joy. The hope in Christ stirs up our joy so that we can praise the Lord in song and dance even in the midst of hardship.

Hope reveals the love of God that is within every believer. We are moved by the Spirit of God to show love to others in the hope that they will come to know Christ. Hope is the filter in which love is expressed in action and not just words. Hope can be lost and found. It can be as tiny as an atom and still pack a powerful punch in the eye of despair. Hope is the gentle tug within the heart of every Christian to comfort us when we are tossed to and fro by trials. Hope is a powerful stimulant for the broken-hearted and dejected especially when we've lost loved ones in death.

The demands of this life can beat us down spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Yet remembering the hope we have in Christ to overcome evil with good, to bless and not curse, and to draw on His word gives us renewed energy to face the world.

Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.

Colossians 3:1-17

New King James Version (NKJV)

3 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. ² Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. ³ For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

⁵ Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, ⁷ in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

⁸ But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. ⁹ Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, ¹⁰ and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, ¹¹ where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

¹² Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; ¹³ bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. ¹⁴ But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. ¹⁵ And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. ¹⁷ And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Beating The System

Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted

Luke 14:11

 

A small percentage of people defend against rejection by buying into the dog-eat-dog system of the world and learning to compete and scheme to get ahead of the pack. These are the movers and shakers, people who earn acceptance and strive for significance through their performance. They feel driven to get on top of every situation because winning is their passport to acceptance. They are characterized by perfectionism and emotional insulation and they struggle with anxiety and stress.

 

Spiritually, the beat-the-system individual refuses to come under God's authority and has little fellowship with God. This person is committed to controlling and manipulating people and circumstances for his own ends, so it is difficult for him to yield control in his life to God. In our church buildings this person jockeys to be chairman of the ruling board or the most influential member on a committee. His motivation is not to serve God in this position, however, but to control his world because his self-worth is dependent on it. Beat-the-system controllers are some of the most insecure people you will meet.

 

Sadly, the controlling individual's defensive strategy only delays inevitable rejection. Eventually his ability to control his family, his employees, and his church diminishes and he is replaced by a younger, stronger controller. Some survive this mid-life crisis, but many who make it to retirement don't enjoy much of it. Studies show that high-powered executives live an average of nine months after they retire. They base their lives in the world system they seek to conquer, but inevitably the world claims its own. "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ" (Colossians 2:8).

 

Prayer: Gracious Father, teach me to be in this world but not of it. I choose Your kingdom to be my standard in the precious name of your son Jesus Christ Amen.

The Acceptance Of God

If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you

John 15:20

 

Everyone knows what it feels like to be criticized and rejected, often by the very people in our lives we desperately want to please. We were born and raised in a worldly environment which chooses favourites and rejects seconds. And since nobody can be the best at everything, we all were ignored, overlooked or rejected at times by parents, teachers and friends.

 

Furthermore, since we were born in sin, even God had no relationship with us until we were accepted by Him in Christ at salvation. Since then we have been the target of Satan, the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10), who never ceases to lie to us about how worthless we are to God and others. In this life we all have to live with the pain of rejection.

 

The acceptance of God is not based on our performance but on His kindness and mercy. "But when the kindness of God our Saviour and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy" (Titus 3:4, 5).

Titus 3:4

J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)

^3-8a For we ourselves have known what it is to be ignorant, disobedient and deceived, the slaves of various desires and pleasant feelings, while our lives were spent in malice and jealousy—we were hateful and we hated each other. But when the kindness of God our saviour and his love towards man appeared, he saved us—not by virtue of any moral achievements of ours, but by the cleansing power of a new birth and the moral renewal of the Holy Spirit, which he gave us so generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour. The result is that we are acquitted by his grace, and can look forward to inheriting life for evermore. This is solid truth.

^8b-11 Subjects like this are always good and useful but mind you steer clear of stupid arguments, genealogies, controversies and quarrels over the Law. They settle nothing and lead nowhere. If a man is still argumentative after the second warning you should reject him. You can be sure that he has a moral twist, and he knows it.

So we  "…accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God" (Romans 15:7).

 

The thoughts and feelings of rejection which often plague us can be major deterrents to growth and maturity if we don't learn to handle them positively. Unfortunately, instead of taking a positive approach, we all learned early in life to respond to rejection by taking one of three defensive postures. Even Christians are influenced to react defensively to the rejection they experience in their family, their school, or society in general.

 

Over the next several days we will look at three ineffective and unnecessary ways to respond to rejection, and consider God's plan for helping us deal with rejection from others.

 

Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for Your unconditional love and acceptance. Teach me to accept others as You have accepted me in Jesus Name Amen.

 

Kind Regards

 

Sean Ali