1 Peter 2: 1 Wherefore laying aside all malice… desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may be able to grow thereby. Therefore, commit thyself to the Word of God.
To see life from God’s point of view is one aspect of spiritual wisdom. Get wisdom, get knowledge, get understanding… but keep wisdom. Life in this world happens at the speed of light. We learn of the things of the world in retrospect. What used to be good, righteous and virtuous is now evil in the eyes of the world. When we blinked, the culture flipped upside down and we didn’t have time to realize the seismic shift toward the powers of darkness where the world calls good evil and evil good.
Therefore rid yourself of all malice against the world which is not your friend. According to 1 Peter 4:17 – 19, many Christians have fallen in their spiritual walk. The secular world and the adversary rejoices every time a man of God falls and fails in his walk. Fallen Christians are ridiculed and made examples of “hypocrisy” in the eyes of the culture. It used to be that when a man fell, the church and the culture would restore them back into fellowship and this would be an example of reconciliation.
However, the culture now holds up the church as an example of failure and hypocrisy. The church has been squeezed into the mold of the World’s mold. However, the word of God says, be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
In order to be reconciled to God, we must be able to see our sin. To turn from sin, we must be able to see the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Like Isaiah who said “woe is me” when confronted with God’s holiness, we must first be broken of our pride. We must recognize the holiness of God, to be able to stand in awe of his wondrous grace. Only when we are broken and with contrition humble our hearts before almighty God can we come boldly before the throne of the Lord Most High.
The adversary’s strategy is to divide and conquer. He sets cultures, ethnic groups and factions against each other. However, God is a God of reconciliation. To reconcile is to bring back together that which has been separated. To bring together God’s church in unity, believers must have a common standard for truth. What you look at you become. Therefore, set your affections on things above. Love not the world, neither the things of the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Everything that is of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.
The adversary will remind us of how far we have fallen from the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. However, our righteousness is not in the flesh but in the spirit of life in Christ. If we live in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with him and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.
As men of God, we can only control those things over which God has entrusted us as stewards. God has called us to pray… to spend time in his presence and to seek his counsel… to communicate with God one on one so that we can align our will with God’s will and our heart with God’s heart.
What is it that you value? All decisions are value judgements. Is it your Lord and Master Jesus Christ whom you seek to serve and please or is it your neighbor and your politically correct worldly culture? It’s not hard to follow Jesus if you concentrate on following in his footsteps. A disciple is a disciplined follower who’s heart’s desire is to “eat his master’s dust.” To know the will of God we must follow in Jesus’ footsteps for Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the father except by me.”
If your eyes are not on the target, you’ll miss the target. Sin is translated from the Greek word “hamartia” which means to miss the mark. The emphasis is not on the missing, but rather on the “mark.” Mark is from the Greek word “meros” which means allotment, providence, or allocation. Sin, therefore, means to miss God’s allotment, his provision, his portion, his purpose for our lives. Our portion and purpose in this life is Jesus Christ… he must increase that I may decrease. The Apostle Paul said, I press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Jesus said, “fear not the man who can take your life, rather fear, reverence, respect, and love the one who has power over your eternal life.” The ultimate goal is the ultimate mark is our heavenly calling. Therefore set your affection on things above, not on the things of this world. Life is dying to self in order to live for God… I was crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.
Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord to thee.
May God richly bless you.
Your brother in Christ,
Michael