1 Peter 2:11-12
Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.
Live in such a way that we bring glory and honor to our Creator.... Every day....in every circumstance....and this will be foreign to this world.
The book of 1 Peter tells us how, as Christians we are to be in this world so that others might know Him....how we are to respond, how we carry ourselves...because of whose we are...we are to choose to be different in order to glorify our Father.
When we are betrayed, ridiculed, slandered or worse, our response is the only thing we can control...and God tells us to live such good lives that those who are our critiques will take notice and will glorify God. Yet, the world we live in will tell us that we must stand up for ourselves or we will loose all respect, that we must defend our honor, we must defend our character....but this has never been about us.... It is Him that we are to glorify not ourselves....not our honor, not our character but His....and He will be glorified in our responses...or not.
The battle that rages against souls tries to poke and prod us...looking for weakness in our amor.. Is it our pride that is weak? Is it our feelings? What can satan provoke within us that will cause us to choose to respond in a manner that reflects this world...and not our Heavenly Father.
If we can choose to respond differently to this evilness (and it is all evil) and respond as children of God, then literally there will be a pause in the interaction. The fire of destruction will be weakened as we choose not to add fuel to a fire created by satan. I believe when we can truly see that it isn't flesh and blood that we battle against but rather the evil of this world....then instead of taking Light from the darkness....we start shining Light in a dark world.
I know that Jesus was angry in the temple...but what caused His anger? Defilement of His Father's house... People that were supposed to be taking care of His Father's people, actually taking advantage of them....and this brought out the wrath of Christ..... Jesus was provoked beyond our imagination....betrayed at the greatest level, mocked, slandered and, yet, when He did not allow satan to provoke a worldly response out of Him.... Maybe if He would have, they world would have accepted Him better..."oh, wait, he is one of us.." But no, it was never about Christ either but the one who sent Him.
We can choose to respond however we wish...and we will find those in this world who will praise our actions... It is your choice. Your actions. But for those who are children of Our Father, we have been called to live as strangers to this world...we have been called to glorify our Father with our actions....all of them.
This beautiful painting complete depicts what we believe was Tae's heavenly encounter while in this earth.... He's closer than we imagine.... Let's live worthy to be called His.
Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.
Live in such a way that we bring glory and honor to our Creator.... Every day....in every circumstance....and this will be foreign to this world.
The book of 1 Peter tells us how, as Christians we are to be in this world so that others might know Him....how we are to respond, how we carry ourselves...because of whose we are...we are to choose to be different in order to glorify our Father.
When we are betrayed, ridiculed, slandered or worse, our response is the only thing we can control...and God tells us to live such good lives that those who are our critiques will take notice and will glorify God. Yet, the world we live in will tell us that we must stand up for ourselves or we will loose all respect, that we must defend our honor, we must defend our character....but this has never been about us.... It is Him that we are to glorify not ourselves....not our honor, not our character but His....and He will be glorified in our responses...or not.
The battle that rages against souls tries to poke and prod us...looking for weakness in our amor.. Is it our pride that is weak? Is it our feelings? What can satan provoke within us that will cause us to choose to respond in a manner that reflects this world...and not our Heavenly Father.
If we can choose to respond differently to this evilness (and it is all evil) and respond as children of God, then literally there will be a pause in the interaction. The fire of destruction will be weakened as we choose not to add fuel to a fire created by satan. I believe when we can truly see that it isn't flesh and blood that we battle against but rather the evil of this world....then instead of taking Light from the darkness....we start shining Light in a dark world.
I know that Jesus was angry in the temple...but what caused His anger? Defilement of His Father's house... People that were supposed to be taking care of His Father's people, actually taking advantage of them....and this brought out the wrath of Christ..... Jesus was provoked beyond our imagination....betrayed at the greatest level, mocked, slandered and, yet, when He did not allow satan to provoke a worldly response out of Him.... Maybe if He would have, they world would have accepted Him better..."oh, wait, he is one of us.." But no, it was never about Christ either but the one who sent Him.
We can choose to respond however we wish...and we will find those in this world who will praise our actions... It is your choice. Your actions. But for those who are children of Our Father, we have been called to live as strangers to this world...we have been called to glorify our Father with our actions....all of them.
This beautiful painting complete depicts what we believe was Tae's heavenly encounter while in this earth.... He's closer than we imagine.... Let's live worthy to be called His.
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