Strength In the Moment

Today’s Thought Strength In the Moment G. Ward

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9

 

Peter’s message to the church is timeless. It was a source of encouragement then and continues as inspirational now. We were never promised that life would be a cake walk, just that Holy God’s presence would never depart (Ps.46:1, Heb.13:5) from us. We most certainly view the chronicles of many (very particularly those believers in the days of the Apostle Peter) persecuted for their faith in Christ; dipped in tar, burned while alive (serving as fire lit lightposts in Nero’s garden, while he entertained others), dragged through the city streets via Nero’s chariots until they died, thrown to the lions (being ripped apart), gathered in human sized leather bags to be immersed in water  (being squeezed to death), lied upon( suggested by non-believers) maintaining that Christians were cannibals because it was said they drank someone’s blood and ate of their flesh (i.e. the Lord’s Supper) and that they greeted each other with holy kisses, sharing “love feasts” and innermost feelings; surely this was viewed as the essence of sexual orgies?

Howbeit that now while sharing the  same status as those Christians in trusting God as Savior, is now being predominantly promulgted as without strife and terribly de-contextualized as being the “head and not the tail, lender, not a borrower, blessed coming in and going out” and so forth? My misinformed charismatic friends are up in arms now! They’re saying Greg, that’s scripture! My reply is yes it is, but stop pulling excerpts to fit your narcissistic behavior and view the scriptures contextually. In Deuteronomy 28 where that is revealed, ISRAEL is admonished, “Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments” (Dt.28:1a). Following are 13 verses that seek to establish victorious living with a total compliance given by God’s elect. We fail to notice the 53 verses immediately following to indicate the Consequences of Disobedience (“But it shall come about, if you do not obey the Lord your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you”  - Dt.28:15).

Swallow the hype of today or present faithfulness to the entirety of the script (Ac.17:11)! Happy Tuesday!