Good morning to you my ‘Walking with Jesus” friends,
Look for a moment at the names of the people who grab headlines in the part of the world where you live? Who are they and what propels them to the front page of your newspapers or the lead stories on your internet news page? Now are you ready for this question: whoever they are and whatever they have done that is newsworthy, does it make any difference in your life?
Now pause for just a second, clear the whiteboard of your mind and are you ready for the next question? What difference would God like to make in your world with YOU in 2023? Yes, my friends, you and I and each of us, is designed by God from even before our birth, to be a difference maker, a contributor to the improvement of our world, do you believe that? Now I know, it’s easy to make a long list of reasons why you are NOT qualified to be a difference maker, but today, let’s let God’s powerful words from Peter challenge that pessimistic view of life.
Peter was writing in the later part of the first century. The Roman empire was a painful place to live for anyone claiming to believe in Jesus or willing to identify themselves as a “Christian”. It would have been way beyond reality for a Christian in 65ad to think they could make any difference in the hostile environment of every city and town across the empire. Neither Roman leaders nor Jewish religious leaders had any positive use for Christians! Both Rome and Jerusalem hierarchy totally rejected Jesus and anyone who followed Him or His teachings, and especially anyone who believed He had actually risen from the dead and ascended to heaven!
But Peter was writing very boldly and courageously, calling discouraged Christians to see themselves as God sees them: “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of HIM who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.”(1 Peter 2:9,10)
But Peter wasn’t just encouraging these people by calling them to see themselves with a God given identity, Peter called them to see how God wanted to make a difference, in fact a big difference, in the darkness, the dysfunction, the fear and violence and wickedness of the Roman empire dominated by Roman deviant power! Look, Peter has been reading what he has already written on his parchments, and now he picks up the stylus again, looks heavenward very reflectively and begins to speak the words as he writes them, confident his Christian friends around the empire will take great courage and purpose from these words: “Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul…” (1 Peter 2:11) Peter pauses, closes his eyes and remembers… all the way back to that Garden of Gethsemane night when Jesus and His disciples had just finished an almost indescribable Passover evening in an upper room in Jerusalem, and Jesus had led them here to the Garden. The late evening Garden was only lit by the moonlight. They prayed, and truthfully, some of them slept while Jesus prayed.
And then suddenly the quiet of the night was shattered as a crowd of angry men with torches. They held clubs, and knives and chains in their hands as they rushed into the peaceful garden. The angry looks on their faces, their shouts demanding to see Jesus, and Judas standing in the front of this angry crowd as their leader… what a remarkable contrast to the quiet group of friends with Jesus in the garden praying, and this angry mob ready to kill somebody! Peter painfully remembered the rest of that night and the horrible crucifixion the following day.
Then Peter thought about the various towns and cities he had visited in the years since and how many times he’d visited Christians in prison or Christians on the run from persecution or Christians feeling total rejection and humiliation. Yes, a war was raging all around them. A war for conquest of the soul of every person all across the Roman empire in the first century.
Is there a war raging for your soul today my friends, no matter where you live? Are the laws being passed re-enforcing the right to kill defenseless unborn babies, where you live? Are the laws demanding recognition of marriage between any persons regardless of age, gender, or marital status? Is uncontrollable violence moving from the movie screen or TV screen to the streets of your town and your neighborhood? Is unrestrained anger and unashamed deceitfulness permeating every part of your society? Is moral decadence filling your society? Do you see the war of sinful desires raging for your soul?
And what are you doing to protect your soul, your mind and your heart? What are you doing to teach your children and grandchildren to protect theirs?
Tomorrow we’ll look specifically at what Peter says next and how we can make a difference in pushing back that darkness all around us which is trying to consume us. For today let’s take seriously that Peter calls us to simply STOP yielding to those sinful desires and build strong walls of defense that will guard your heart and mind, and hold tightly to the IDENTITY as God’s people, that Peter has declared for us.
Remember Peter wrote in his first chapter: “…with minds and hearts that are alert and fully sober…do not conform to the evil desires that you once had… just as HE who called you is Holy, so BE HOLY…” (1 Peter 1:13-15) There’s the first secret to making a difference in our world… Live God honoring, Holy lives by resisting every attempt by the darkness around you to penetrate INTO your life. Don’t allow the evil, the darkness to take root in you. Take whatever steps you need to take to prevent the junk of our word from finding a home in your heart! Now ponder that. That’s why King Solomon of old wrote this wisdom: “Above all else guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of your life.” (Prov. 4:23) So let me close today with two questions that I urge us to ponder all day long. These questions will help us evaluate if we can do what Peter is challenging us to do… effectively prevent the evil from taking root in us!
1. What standard do you have for what you will NOT tolerate into your life, regarding the music you listen to, the TV or movies or streaming or anything you allow into your home and life through WIFI, be it computer, tablet, or cell phone!?
Imagine what a difference it could make for you if you cut off the inflow of trash this dark world is trying to dump into your house & life every day!
2. What standard do you have for how much time you spend with God every day? Time reading God’s Word and time listening to music which honors God? Time talking with and listening to God?
What if you demanded, DEMANDED, from your busy life schedule no less than 30 minutes every day to spend time with God?
Now can you imagine the difference these two action steps could make in your life and mine? And here’s a song to help us worship today, my friends:
Today’s Scripture is 1 Peter 2:11.
Choose below to read or listen.
 |  |
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
Archived back issues of “Walking with Jesus” and other resources are available by clicking here to open our ‘home page’ (or go to HOME at upper right of this page).
Share with friends. Subscribe below for daily “Walking with Jesus”.