Gifts

1 Pet. 4:10-11

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks the oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves the the strength that God supplies--in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen

The main point: Whatever I have, do, think, say, I do it through Jesus, in and through His wonderful grace. What God has blessed me with , I need to use to bless others. Jesus was a servant to all, and He wants me to serve others too. If I don't use what He has given me, then I am not a good steward of His grace. What exactly does that mean? How does it related to using our gifts. 

I am reminded of the parable of the servants. Each was given a gift of the same amount. One went and increased his gift from 10 talents to 20. Another went and increased his gift from 10-15. But one servant hid his talent in the ground because he was afraid of the master, or so he said. Maybe laziness? When the master came back, each was rewarded accordingly. The servant who had hidden his talent had his taken away, and consequently, lost his position as a servant altogether. Jesus has given believers gifts [talents] as well. Grace is the power that enables us to use those gifts properly. If we are not good stewards of the grace, we are not using grace in such a way that allows us to have adequate power to use our gifts. So through the grace of God, we use our gifts increasing them as much as we can so that when our Master [Jesus Christ] returns, He can say to us, Well done, you good and faithful servant. Then God will be glorified through Jesus Christ. 

Father,

Thank You for Your amazing grace. Help me to be a good steward of it. Teach me how to use my gifts for you without my own strength. I want to use it through Your grace so that you may be glorified. 

In Jesus name,

Amen

Finally...

1 Pet. 3:8-9

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.

Finally, this is the conclusion of the matter. Perhaps for a woman, the outworking of her hidden person of the heart, her gentle and quiet spirit which is precious to God. But for men and women, for all of the body of Christ unity is of huge importance. Eph. 4 says, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and later in that same chapter it says, until we all attain to the unity of the faith of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. How important!

Sympathy would be the caring heart, seeing the burdens of others and coming alongside them. Phil. 2 pairs sympathy with unity as well, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord. Perhaps sympathy helps us understand the position of others and thus contributes to unity. Brotherly love is that love that exists between believers, brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. It is this love that Christians should have as their identifying mark. John 15 says, These things I command you that you love one another. Loving one another was an issue that was very important to the heart of Jesus and should be to our hearts as well. 

A tender heart speaks of softness toward the promptings of the Spirit, leaning in to hear His still, small voice whether He is prompting us to love one another or to confess a sin that is blocking our way to growth. Whatever it is we need to be tender to Him and to God's word. A humble mind is of ultra importance. 1 Pet. 5 says, Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him because He cares for you. Humility is to be openly observable, our clothing, that which protects our tender heart. It is to the humble that grace is given. Pride blocks the way! Pride keeps God from exalting you which is abundantly better than self-exaltation. Yet humility seems impossible. The heart of man is programmed with pride. It takes a mighty work of God and His Spirit to chisel away the hard and stony ground and make the heart tender. It is the proud heart that wants to give back in kind, to return evil for evil and reviling for reviling. It is the proud heart that rises up and thinks how could you do this to me. But the humble heart prays for the evil revilers. It is the humble heart that leaves retribution with God. 

Quite a meaty finally. So much to absorb and pray about. So much to consider as we seek the heart of God, as we seek to grow in him, as we seek to shed our protective coating of pride and opt out for the tenderness and sympathy. When I consider the condition of my heart and my ever present tendency to sin, I identify with Rom. 8, and groan for the coming of the Lord, groan for that time when my heart will be made 100% His, groan for that time when my hope will be made reality. 

Father,

Change my heart. Root out my pride and grow in its place a full crop of humility, tenderness, and love. I confess so many times I am not what I should be when my flesh takes over.

Help me.

In Jesus name,

Amen

The Hidden Person of the Heart

1 Pet. 3:4

but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. 

1 Pet. 3:1-7 is a classic passage for husbands and wives. Wives be subject to your own husbands,and husbands live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. In and of themselves these are great principles as well as commands to be obeyed. But v. 4 talks about something that is much deeper, perhaps it is the how-to for women.

The whole concept of wives submitting to husbands is not really an easy sell. Who wants to be the one that has to follow the will of the other one? Who doesn't want to have things their own way? I certainly do. Yet, God says no. He has placed authority in a certain order. So how do we follow this order? God says look at your heart. Do not just be concerned about your external adorning, clothing, hair, jewelry. Not to say those things aren't important. [Just look at the huge industries centered around each of these three areas.] If our concentration is not on the external, it has time to be on the internal.  Peter says our adorning should be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. A hidden person in our hearts? Who knew?

This hidden person is our relationship with God, our inner life where we think, meditate, pray, read, study, memorize, form attitudes, and the list goes on. It is where our true character is formed and then becomes the source of our external actions. If our external includes griping, nit-picking, mean-spirited actions, laziness, lack of focus, etc., then we know that our internal is not right. We are not growing that gentle and quiet spirit that God thinks is precious. We are not honoring God in what He really desires. Notice that the hidden person of the heart is not synonymous with church attendance. It can grow at church, but it can't be replaced by church. It must be that one-on-one time that we have with God. 

This hidden person of the heart has a huge influence. It says that an unsaved husband can be won by the conduct of the wife without even her saying a word, that is if her hidden person of the heart has been fed and grown. If not, there are wedges and wall built. Stress and tensions run high, and the home becomes a battleground not a haven. Such wisdom! But can women give up their desire to run the show? Can they trust God to keep them safe and protected? The holy women of old were our examples. Sarah trusted Abraham even after he pawned her off as His sister twice. In spite of Abe's actions, God protected her. Verses 6 says, And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening. It might be frightening to trust our husbands, to go with their ideas and plans even when you know the end will not be good, but is God bigger than all that? Yes. Do His plans supersede all the foolish plans of man? Yes. 

Father,

Help me trust You above all. Help me to be more concerned with my inner hidden person that running the show on the outside. Give me Your strength to trust You above all.

In His name,

Amen

Following in His Steps

1 Pet. 2:21

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps.

Our calling is one of suffering. Since Christ suffered for us, we must follow in His steps, steps that are hard and painful. Previous to verse 21 Peter explains how it is a gracious thing in the eyes of God when we endure sorrow when suffering unjustly. How counter to our thoughts and our flesh is that! When we suffer unjustly, we want to rise up and proclaim loudly the injustice. We want to cry out to our friends and convince them of our innocence. But this is not the way of Christ. Everything that Christ endured was unjust! Yet He endured graciously. 

Following verse 21, Peter explains in detail how Jesus suffered graciously, and Peter would know, he was there! Jesus suffered without committing sin, without reviling in return, without threatening or seeking to return evil for evil. How could He do this? Was the strength coming from a source within Him? No, in verse 23 it says, He continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly. He let God handle it! For we know who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay. And again, The Lord will judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.  [Heb. 10: 30-31] God is a far better judge than any man could ever be, yet we care so much what man thinks of us. We are so fearful of what man can do to us. Why this need for human vindication? Shouldn't we care more how God sees us? 

Jesus trusted His Father. He knew that God would be true to His word and to His character. Whatever God asked Him to do, He was willing to do. He is our example of trust. God asks us to trust Him as well. Even though we might not understand or enjoy our calling of suffering, can we trust Him? Can we trust that He knows what is best for us? Can we trust Him to enable us to endure sorrow? He doesn't ask us to suck it up and tough it out. No, He asks us to depend on Him, His strength and His grace. Through His power, we can endure sorrow when suffering unjustly. Through His power we can follow in Jesus' steps. Through His power we can entrust ourselves to Him who judges justly. 

Father,

Fill me with Your grace and power to endure sorrow and follow in the steps of Jesus. Help me to entrust my life into Your hands realizing that I might not understand why until I am in heaven with You. I love You Lord. Thank You, Jesus for walking these steps of suffering and sorrow. You are my Savior and my Lord. 

In His name,

Amen

Silencing Foolishness

1 Pet. 2:15

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

Doing good in the face of the accusations and actions of ignorant people, hm...what an interesting idea! I wonder is it doing good in general or doing good to those specific people? I am sure that to have its greatest effect, it would have to be to those specific people. So every time I am greeted with a foolish statement or an action, I should think of something good I can do. Perhaps the time and effort I put into thinking of something good would cancel out my fleshly response to that person. A little replacement theory! And of course, it would have the blessing of God because it would be in obedience to His word. 

The very next verse says, Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. I am free in Christ, free from my bondage to sin, not free to do whatever fleshly, foolish think I want. I need to abstain from having the necessity for a cover-up for my sin, a sin which would be in context to the last verse, that is doing evil. The more good God can do through me as His servant, a servant who has willingly submitted to Jesus Christ, the more that I can silence the ignorance of foolish people. Living in the flesh is just fodder for the mouths of foolish people! The more they see Christians living sinfully, the more they can voice loud and clear their ignorant thoughts. Why ignorant? Because they don't know what it means to be a Christian. They don't know it means that Christians are just saved sinners who are prone to the flesh just like they are. Instead they take their preconceived notions and use them as a lens with which to view all things Christians. No wonder it comes out ignorance!

Father,

Help me to do Your good in Your strength and in Your will and way. Teach me to live as Your servant. That is who I desire to be.

In Jesus name,

Amen

Great Blessings

1 Pet. 1: 3-9

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,

so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

We bless God because of the great blessings He has given us. We love Him because He first loved us. We reach out to Him because He first reached out to us. Get the pattern! Everything I have in Christ is because God reached down to me first. All I have is from the top down, from His great mercy, love and grace. The blessings are manifold:

• born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead-nothing I did or initiated. All from Jesus!
•  to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,-He has given me a future, sonship, joint heir with Christ, and an eternal inheritance kept safe for me.
• who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.-Through His grace and nothing I have done, I am guarded through the gift of faith [no faith of my own] for my complete and eternal salvation to be revealed when Jesus comes back for me. 
•  In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,  so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. -I rejoice in this salvation even though in this life I have trials, trials that test the genuineness of my faith, to ensure that I am not a fake or trying to sneak in on my own works. My end result will be praise, glory, and honor when Jesus returns. How do I endure these trials? Through His grace and strength. He gives me the trials and the means to endure and the reward at the end! It is all of Him. 
• Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.-I love Him though I don't see Him. I believe by faith, the very gift of faith from the Father. I rejoice with inexpressible joy, a joy that is unfathomable by the world. It makes no sense to them! And finally, the salvation is complete! I will see Jess as He is and be like Him, glorified and eternal. Praising Him for all eternity!

Such as this is my life! My joy! My all! Such as this has come down from the Father who has chosen me to be His own precious child. He has given me His divine nature and all things pertaining to life and godliness. He has given me His precious and very great promises that by them I might live in newness of life and in resurrection power. He has given me Jesus and His Spirit to indwell, guide, lead,and intercede for me. Such a life as this is mine!

Father,

As I read this passage this morning, my heart is blessed, and I bless You the giver of all good things. I have only a paltry 'thank you' to give in return. You have transformed my life according to Your great promises. You have been faithful and true. Help me to live for You faithfully and truly, but only through Your great grace. Make me steadfast according to Your steadfast and unfailing love. I bless You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I know I am elect because of the foreknowledge of God, according to the sanctification of the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ through the sprinkling of His blood.

In His name,

Amen

Patience and Purpose

James 5:7

Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for he coming of the Lord is at hand. 

It is only human to want the Lord to return and take us out of this world with all of its evil and corruption, but perhaps that is just escapism. We just don't want to deal with what is coming down, the suffering, the loss of freedom, the immorality, the perversions of God's word, but all these are signs, signs for us to get ready, to get our hearts in order. But how often are we longing for His return because we love Him so very much, because we want to feast our eyes on Him, and because our hearts are so full of praise that we can't contain it? We want it to spill over into eternity and join in praising with all the saints on high.

Thankfully, James knows the true nature of man so he exhorts us to get ready by being patient and establishing our hearts. Patient because the Lord's coming is delayed as He waits for that last soul to be saved. Establishing our hearts by growing in Him and not grumbling against each other. Love should be the mark of the believer, our default setting, but often we fall back into the flesh where the default is backbiting and devouring one another by our actions and words. James reminds us that the Judge is at the door. He can't take sin lightly. Believers need to watch their speech, their words are significant. Don't swear by heaven or earth, but let your 'yes' be yes and your 'no' be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. Strong words! Condemnation! Who wants that? No one I know of. So it's simple, yes or no. No swearing!

Finally, we establish ourselves by being steadfast. Remember the prophets and Job who endured evil, corruption, and affliction and still remained faithful. We can read those accounts and see that the Lord was faithful to them, and likewise, He will be faithful to us. If we are suffering or ill, call the elders and ask for prayer. Always remember that the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. In conclusion, James says to bring the wanderers back to the truth and their souls will be saved. Look out for one another. Reach out for the wounded brothers. Nurture and love. And in such a way it will go full circle. You will in turn be nurtured and loved.

Father,

I long for Your return, and yet at the same time, I need to get prepared, to establish my heart. Help me not to have a grumbling spirit, to love and reach out to others, to keep my speech clean and pure, and to be faithful and steadfast. Help me to nurture and care for those You place in my path. Give me the words to share with the lost.

In Jesus name,

Amen