Hey everyone! We are now switching back to 1 Peter to get prepared for the rest of the semester as we will continue preaching our way through this awesome book!
Greeting
1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
Born Again to a Living Hope
3 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, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 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. 8 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, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
Called to Be Holy
13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for
“All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
And this word is the good news that was preached to you. (ESV)
ELLO… I read
I like verse 15,”but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,”
I like this verse because it talks about us following GOD’s example. We are called children of GOD and when you look at most kids they are usually like their fathers. Being a child of GOD is no exception. GOD is our father and HE is perfect and Holy I need to make sure that I follow in HIS example and strive for holyness.
CYA
15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
God is holy, 100% perfect without any flaws. And he has commanded his people to be holy, too. As we are all sinners, there hasn’t been one man who lived a holy life. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). However, Jesus came down to earth as a Savior. He lived the perfect life we have all failed to live, he died the death that we should have died, and he conquered death in rising from the dead. Jesus brought salvation to those who repent of their sins and put their faith in Christ.
I think generally, people have lost care for their pursuit of holiness. Even people who claim to be Christians act as if Jesus has already saved them so they don’t need to strive for holiness. This is wrong. It is still a strong command for everyone. And because of the sin we still have, we can’t succeed. We will fail over and over again. But we still need to strive for perfection. As Pastor Mike related this to at Revival 09, a cup of pure, distilled water is like a holy life. Just because you may have a little dirt in it, you still want the glass to be as clean as it can be. And you most definitely wouldn’t just take huge clumps of dirt and dump them in the water. Even though I won’t be 100% perfect, I need to be trying to live the most godly life that I can. And I must rely upon God’s power, not on my own. So even when I stumble into sin, I need to repent, wash it off my mind, and start over with a mindset for holiness!
goodnesssss!!!! soooo manyyyy great verses in this chapter!!!!
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
as christians we are faced with some huge expectations. striving for perfection eventhough we know we will never be able to abtain it. being obedient to all authority God has put in our lives even if we dont agree with their laws. loving our enemies…ect. all of these things ultimatley come down to one thing…being holy. we are commanded to do this if you really think about it if we strive to be holy everyday of our lives i doubt that we would have as much of a problem of obeying our parents or disrespecting our teachers or not being able to kepp our whole body in check including our tounge making sure its not gossiping or slandering…anyway you get the picture! yes altho we are human and sin continually and frequently make mistakes we should ALWAYS be striving to be HOLY in most ways yeah life will get tougher since we are held to a higher standard than most of the rest of the world but it may be easier as we get better and better at it…anyway just something to think about!<3333
this chapter is so amazing! It reminded me of so many things, it’s rediculous.
Last night I had a dream that I was singing Lord Of Lords. XD AND THEN this chapter talks about giving glory and honor and praaaaise to God. How weird is that? It totally reminded me of that song because it talks about God being the lamb and how the Lord is holy. mmmm and He very much is! I love that song because the lyrics are so beautiful. :) That’s a worship song that can make me cry. How bout, today, I get that God song stuck in my head so that I praise Him alllll day long. THAT would be awesome!
I also loved the end where it says God’s Word will stand forever. It’s been standing so far, and I know God’s Word is true! It’ll continue standing, even when Jesus comes back. MARANATHA! :D
1 Pet 1:6-7 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.
We are going to suffer for Jesus to test our faith and bring honor to Him. So do everything as if Jesus was standing over you (yes, even homework!) to bring Him honor for what He has done. And when preaching Christ means hurt and suffering just know He adores when we show love to Him and others that way!
yes! :)
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,
as Christians, we were once dead in sin, but now we are alive to God in Christ! (Romans 6:11). in this verse we are called to be obedient children to God, because now that we have a new heart (as Pastor Bobby talked about a little at RWE) we are able to serve God as we should. but not only that, we are called to not be conformed to our former passions. living a holy life means that we follow what God wants for us, which is both doing good things, AND forsaking the sin in our lives. at our campus lunches a few weeks ago we talked about how if we are alive in Christ, why would we go back to the coffin (sin)? one analogy that pastor ben gave was that if it is summer vacation, why would we want to go back to school. it is even more foolish of us to have freedom in Christ and then to go back to sin. in my life, there are some areas where i am being conformed to my former ignorance. i need to be getting in God’s Word constantly, talking to Him, and talking with a good brother in Christ about it. i need to rely on God as i work to fight my sin. God please get rid of all the sin and temptations of my “former ignorance”, and transform me into a holy man so that You may get all the glory You deserve from my life!
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart
This verse tells me that one of the purposes of reading my Bible and obeying it is to love my brothers and sisters the way that Christ did. Obedience to the Bible will purify our hearts, and give us the opportunity to love other Christians with a pure heart (kinda like the David and Jonathan loved eachother…). This is awesome and something I need to work more on!
are we starting 1 Peter again? we didnt finish 1 Samuel.. im confused.
4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
This verse is so awesome! I cannot wait for heaven. The more and more I think about it, what really do i have here on earth that is worth anything compared to being with Jesus forever? the answer is nothing!! Everyday I have more of a longing to see Jesus’ face and to be in Heaven with him. This needs to grow more, and I need to know that nothing on earth will ever satisfy me the way Jesus will!
3 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, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
Jesus came down to this evil and sinful planet in the form of a completely helpless baby and was spit on and beaten and crucified so that we could have a new life and a inheritance in heaven that will last no matter what happens on this earth!
That is true love.
13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
We need to have our minds be prepared for our battle with sin that will attack us every day and fight back with not our own strength but with Gods strength we can conquer sin every day as soldiers for Christ. Another thing we need to do is focus on the grace God gave us and on spiritual things not on things of this world.
Good Morning!!!
verse 3
“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,”
Blessed BE the GOD our FATHER of our LORD JESUS CHRIST!!! Yes HE is and HE gives us blessings as well, every morning when we wake up is a blessing and so many more that I cannot even name.
We are born again in HIM when we took JESUS into our hearts and kept HIM there to help and guide us through our troubles and sorrows. HE is always going to be there for me and you.
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for
“All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
I loved this because we should love everyone with a pure and a sincere heart. I also loved the poem and how it shows that everything can be going wrong in our lives and it could seem like the end of the world, but the word of the Lord will remain forever!
5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 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.
What an incredible privilege to be gifted with trials, that our faith may be proved genuine and lasting. God has used these past two to three years to show me that trials are for seasons, but He is forever. Every aspect of our lives has God’s sovereignty and hand over it, and it all culminates into this beautiful living testimony and proof of Jesus Christ’s saving power, should we yield to the Holy Spirit’s outline for faithfulness. Phenomenal…
15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
As I was reading the DBR last night I came across the original passage where 1 Peter 1:16 is mentioned, Leviticus 11:44. In the Old Testament God calls the Israelites to dedicate themselves to holiness and practice a holy lifestyle. He calls them to do that as a response to His own morally perfect character. Now. as New Covenant believers we are also called to live holy lives. We have the perfect example of Christ to imitate. Since we are called to be holy in all that we do, we must make a commitment to pursue holiness. That means we are intentionally seeking to be pure and holy every day of our lives until Christ returns or He comes to take us home. This verse has had a major impact on my life. I wake up daily and ask God to help me search my heart for sin, which I then confess. By identifying the impure areas of my life I am able to repent from them and pursue holiness in those areas. I ask for accountability and memorize verses that will help me in my pursuit of holiness. God compares me to His perfect Son, not other people, so it is not ok for me to settle for a mediocre state of holiness. I desire to be like Christ and live a holy life that honors Him.
15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
Verse 15 and 16 are saying that as Christians we need to be holy!!! Because the Lord is holy!!!! Meaning that we need to be living a life of no sin!! Of course as human beings we are not perfect but we should be striving to be!!!!! I love these verses!!!!
Maranatha
Excited to read 1 Peter again. You always learn something when you read the bible, even if you know it by heart, there is ALWAYS more wisdom and knowledge we might miss when reading it the first few times. :]
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
God calls us to be holy and live holy lives. I am not supposed to keep sinning. Even though I will and my heart is a great white shark, I need to think about what I am going to do and do the right thing(at least try). God is there and can give me the strength when I may not know what the right thing is to do. But also choosing to say no isn’t the only way to obey. I also need to obey God by listening and doing as He says. Such as makeing disciples of all nations. He is the one and only true God and derserves all praise! :]
24 for
“All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
And this word is the good news that was preached to you.
I also really like these verses. Here on earht everything will fade and die(EVERYTHING) God is eternal and life with Him is also. After earth it is Heaven and hell and for eternity Heaven sounds much nicer. It is amazing to hear, when evangelizing, what people think hell is. Some think its a party in darkness. Well they have one hting right, it is dark but it is not going to be a fun party. God gave me sooo much, none of what I deserve. He gave me the gift to choose to obey and love and follow Him and repent of my sins, or live a life of sin and being lost. Being lost is no fun so God is the way to go. SO as things fade away here on earth we need to store up treasures in heaven rather than on earth. For heaven is eternal and so is God. :]
***Rejoice in His name and love forever!!!***
3 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,
SO many great truths in this one verse!! I need to: 1. Praise and thank God ALWAYS for the gift of Jesus Christ! It is such an unbelievably huge, undeserved, bloody, sacrificial, grace-showered gift. I need to be thanking Him in every circumstance, and my salvation through Christ is enough to cause me to thank him every second of the day. 2. Thank God for his mercy! I see it every day. I am living in southern Orange County, go to a great University, am able to live with my parents rent free, go to an amazing church, have an amazing group of friends who are also slaves to God, and so much more. All of this I do not deserve, yet God grants these things to me. 3. Understand that I have been Born Again! Everything I once held dear, I count it all as lost. That means all of the things that I used to do have been put to death thanks solely to Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. 4. Be astounded that I have a LIVING hope through Jesus. As Pastor Mike always says, Biblical hope is not crossing your fingers, its a confident assurance in what the Bible tells us about God. The fact that I have a LIVING hope means that God is constantly reminding me of how faithful He is to His promises. What a profound gift it is to have a hope that is alive. It grows inside of me, it assures me of what I do not see every day, it helps me groan for my eternal home, and it reminds me that since God has been faithful, he will remain faithful.
How amazingly blessed we are to be slaves to and have a growing relationship with this God.
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
This verse jumps out to me because we talk about this at True North a lot. Those of us who have repented and put our trust in Christ need to be looking more and more like Him each day. We are called to strive for holiness and to live in fear of the Lord. At school or at jobs, it should be SO obvioius who the Christians are!
Goodmorning . . .
I read . . .
1 Peter . . . (such an awesome book!)
Ok, so I don’t know about you, but I basically HIGHLIGHTED the entire book. SO, it’s really hard to choose just 1 verse. But the one that cought my attention the most was verse 22, also because I just prayed about that.
“22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, LOVE ONE ANOTHER EARNESTLY FROM A PURE HEART…”
This is EXACTLY what the last sermon at Revival was talking about. Are you loving your fellow brothers and sisters the way Christ shows His love? Meaning, are you willing to give up anything and everything for that one friend because you L-O-V-E them? (without laughing) If your future was better than theirs, would you be willing to give UP your future and give it to them?
It’s so sad how the word “love” is so miss-used to this day. So many people, including myself, have miss-used the word by saying, “I “love” this burger,” or “I “love” that shirt!” Do we honestly realize what we’re saying? I actually pray about this most of the time. That God would help me to use the world “like” instead of “LOVE.” Love should only be used for things that we TRULY love, like our Godly friends, the Bible, and of course, JESUS CHRIST!!!!
Also, are we “loving” our friends just to look good, to show others what you’re “made” of or just doing it cause you know you “HAVE” to? I pray that I would GENUINLY ( I probably spelled that wrong ) LOVE my fellow sisters, and would be willing to do anything for them. That I would stand up for them, encourage them, and most importantly, keep them accountable. But not accountabiblity of just, “Did you POST today?” That’s fine, but also that I would ask if there’s anything I can pray for, HOW DID YOUR DAY GO? and sooo many more endless questions.
. . . THAT, is true, pure, love from the heart!
~+~+~+~+~FATHER REIGN DOWN!~+~+~+~+~+~+~
Jesus,
Help my “New Car” smell to not GO AWAY! Yes God, it’s easy to give into temptation when you don’t fight it, but I pray that that wouldn’t be the case for me. Whatever temptation you throw at me, HELP ME TO FIGHT IT Lord WITH You. It’s so comforting to know that You won’t give me temptation that’s to big for me. So with that, why should I stumble EVERY time there is temptation. Lord I know that it’s impossible to be perfect here on earth, but I still pray that I would strive for it. =) Amen!
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for
“All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
Wow, there are so many juicy, didactic verses in this chapter! I didn’t pick the last ones because I was lazy, but because I love the imagery and significance of them. It reminds me that I need to purify my soul and be obedient in all things toward God. Loving one another “earnestly from a pure heart” reminds me of Pastor Bobby’s sermon on Christian friends last weekend at Revival. I need to put more effort into relationships with Christian friends and not become frustrated if I have to build the bridge farther. This will also help with patience. I need to have more patience with my peers. It is so comforting and exciting to know I am born of an “imperishable seed”, having been reborn through Jesus Christ. I need to continue to grow as a Christian and share the gospel with more non-Christians. It is true that the flesh, and the outward appearance withers away. Flowers that are once beautiful die and so do our bodies age. But unlike the changing things in this world, God’s word is constant. He never changes. “The word of the Lord remains forever.”<3
I second that :)
6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 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.
This is exactly what I needed to hear right now. Instead of being down and upset , I should rejoice when I have trials in my life because God says that this will test the genuineness of my faith. I don’t view trials as precious but here it states that if I keep standing strong through the fire then it will praise and glorify Christ! It reminds me of a guy who came to speak. He made jewlery ando ther things and he brought this beautiful gold vase. He said that when he was making it he was keeping his eye on the tempereature the whole time. He knew that the vase could handle that and not melt although other people told him otherwise. During the refining process, he could see his reflection on the vase the whole time which is kinda like how as God my creator and maker watches over me. He sees the final version and the reflection of Himself. I know that troubles not only humble me, but make me become more like Christ.
16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
This verse is something to definitely remember and ponder upon regularly! We are called to live holy lives! And as Beth mentioned, we have the example of Christ to do so. Of course we are not perfect, only the Lord is perfect and holy! I want to make a commitment to honor and obey Christ and follow his excellent example. I want to live a life of holiness and make sure my heart is pure and ready to do what God wants!
I read…
Verse 22… “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,”
In this verse, Paul is trying to unify the people he is writing to. If we are to sincerely love someone, we must do it with a pure heart or else the relationship (not necessarily a dating one) will not last. I pray that we would all genuinely love one another so that we can stand firm whenever the Devil tries to attack one of us.
7 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.
Amazing Chapter! Such juicy stuff in here! Being holy, eduring through trials, and living for God! I especially liked this verse because I go through trials everyday, and there is always a way to respond to them. I never really thought of trials that way in that they are testing your faith! That makes sense! But that is so awesome that God would put me through trials! He wants to do that because then my faith will be tested, and show God and everyone else how genuine and strong my faith REALLY is!
25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
The Lord will be there forever and has always been there. Its hard to wrap my mind around the beauty of God’s love. He will never not be there. It is so comforting to know that I have Him behind me. I want my entire life to portray Him.
24 for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
I loved this verse so much! It reminded me as us christians. In God we grow and produce fruit, like the flower. But if we fall from God, we stop producing good fruit therefore, we fall; just as the flower. Yet God will not fall, He will always stay standing, and like it says in the verse, His word remains forever. This is such a great verse to remember! God is, was, and will always be. Therefore, we can put ALL our faith in Him. Its great to know my faith is in an everlasting God! :)
13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
I love this verse. It’s a great one to read in the morning so that you can focus on being holy during the day. We are all running this race so we must run it to win. That means that we must give our 100% effort into EVERYTHING that we do. To do this, a great tool is memorizing scriptures like this one that remind us to live our lives holy and blameless, set apart from the rest of the world.
STREET CRED CBC!!!!!!!
Yes! I am praying God will use our street cred at SVCS for Revival on that campus!
Woohoo our church shall be known as HARDCORE!!!
8 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
This was one of my favorite quotes! It related to so much of what we are dealing with school today. The Lord’s word says though we do not see him we believe in him. Believe is the key word in this verse. If we believe we can overcome all obstacles that may come to us. Having faith in the Lord will not only give glory to us, but it will give glory to the Lord!
Victoria!! its so great to have you on SOTD my darling :) i totally agree with your comment too! We need to know that if we are Christians, God is always there fore us, even though we might not be able to physically see him. Its awesome that you can have this faith in Jesus. Love you girlie <3
6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 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.
This is such a great verse. Gold is an interesting object. When you put it in a hot fire, it’s impurities will be burned off, leaving you with just the pure gold. We need to test the things we do to see if they are done for GOD or for man. When GOD tests our motives will they stand the test, or will they be burned up entirely? True gold fears no fire.
1 Peter 1:8 “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”
This chapter is so amazing! I really like this verse because it shows us that even though God is not tangibly in our presence, if we continue to believe in His word, His presence will become more obvious to us. As christians we must rejoice in the Lord and believe in his existence and glorify Him on a daily basis. I pray that God will strengthen my heart to see Gods true glory and omnipotence.
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,
I really like this verse because right when I read it it reminded me of how selfish I can be at times. This verse is telling us to sincerely love one another, putting others above ourselves.
15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct
God is our example, if were are called chidren of God, we should want to be more like him. We can not be perfect like him but we sure can try to be more and more like him every day.
24 for
“All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
And this word is the good news that was preached to you. (ESV)
I love how this verse shows me that I should be in God’s word every day. His word will remain FOREVER and it will not wither away like most of the things I like to do. I am so thankful that the good news was preached to me and I need to share it will all.
AMEN!!!
1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, we need to work on being ambassadors of christ and doing what he wants not what we want. i need to work on living for christ.
6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 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.
What an encouraging chapter to read!! These two verses stood out to me and it’s what I needed to hear. I am constantly reminded that God puts us through trials because he loves us and wants us to grow from them. Everything I go through always brings glory to God, because I am dependent on Him and trust that he has me going through certain things for a reason. Every day I feel closer to the Lord, digging deep in his word and learning more about him. There is so much to know about our Savior! He reveals it to us through his word! That brings me to verse 16. Jesus set an example of how we should live. And I want to pursue holiness every moment of every day, bringing him glory through all that I do, and all that I say.
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
This reminds me of both Pastor Bobby’s sermon on the heart (the 1st revival one) and his sermon on Christian friends (the 3rd one). We should remember to be obedient in our actions because therefore we can become more sincere in love (whereas if you ignore God’s commands, or sin or defy your authorities, you are choosing to do what you want to do and are not being loving at all). I truly appreciate when someone can show brotherly love from a pure heart through their actions…because actions do speak louder than words. And because we as Christians have been born again of Christ, we should make sure our hearts and actions reflect Christ’s attitude :)
Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
I love 1 Peter!! This verse has a lot to do with what happened today for me!
Although it was a small thing, my cousins was snowed in from Indiana and i havent seen her since summer so i was really look forward to being able to see her. Well, she was snowed in and wouldn’t be here til tomorrow. I was pretty mad but my first instinct was to pray and hope something good would come happen. 5,000 or so flights were canceled but she was able to catch a flight and be here tonight!
I learned even from this little occurrence, that God is there and listening and he is faithful!!! GOD IS GOOD :)
sorry.. lots of typos!
Thats awesome (: God is good all the time (:
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
I really like this verse because it calls us obedient children. I think that is great because it reminds me that that is a title that i should be able to be called. I should be an obedient child of God. Being called an obedient chid should be something I am worthy of. That however cannot be done without the Lord’s help. I need to rely on the Lord and pray that He will control the great white shark that is trying to escape the fish tank. :) We are called to be holy, for he is holy. We are called to be people after gods own heart, David was a good example. I just need to keep trusting in the Lord so I dont make the mistakes that David made, and avoid any other temptations
13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
This verse reminded me of 1 Peter 3:15 where it talks about always being ready to defend the Gospel. Our minds need to be prepared for action as we walk onto our high school campuses. Just as olympic athletes prepare their bodies and minds for the competition, we in the same way need to prepare our minds to be ready to share and defend the Gospel. We can do this by studying God’s word, praying consistently, worshipping constantly, and dwelling on what Christ has done for us!
4 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,
This is such a convicting verse. It is so important to remember how seriously God takes sin. He hates it!! And if the Lord hates it, then we should to. I know in my life I tend to think sin is bad but not as bad as the Lord sees it. I pray that I would wage war with the passions of my flesh and I would not be conformed to this world!! I also pray that none of us would stop standing because the christian walk is “to hard”. STAY STANDING AND FINISH THE RACE!!!
13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
I need to be ready to do whatever actions God calls me to do, and that means making sure my thinking is clear and sound. And of course that means I need to be in God’s word regulary and speak to God through prayer. By doing so I’ll be eating solid food, as it talks about in Hebrews 5:11-14, and will be better able to “not be conformed to the passions of [my] former ignorance.”
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
As Christians we need to strive to be different from this world. We all know that it is very difficult to be different from what we see, hear, and learn from others every day but with God anything is possible. We need to long to be different so that we may be good examples to those around us. Instead of people seeing us as hypocritical, they should see us as individuals who are focused on making every effort to be an outstanding person with good morals. We need to try and make a difference for Christians everywhere so that they stop getting the bad reputation of being hypocrites.
6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 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.
Wow, this is so awesome to know!!! I know when I am faced with a trial, whether really big or super small, the word faith always pops into my head. But I don’t think about it this way. I love these two verses! The genuineness of your faith results in praise, glory, and honor to the Lord Jesus Christ. How amazing that is to know that you can bring glory to God. I know we always talk about this, “Give the glory to God.” But I don’t think I have actually deepened my thoughts about that concept. How lucky and honored WE are to be able to bring God the glory and make His name known in this world. So through our tough times, trials, and suffering we can still lift God higher and higher in our lives and in others’. Thank you Jesus for saving my soul and allowing me to go through trials because through them I know that you love me. If you did not put me through trials I wouldn’t grow and if I didn’t grow, my walk wouldn’t strengthen. Lord, your timing is absolutely perfect and you will never give me something I can’t handle. Help me to be reminded of this in my everyday life and to truely give glory to You and be thankful that I can.
Maranatha!!!!!
Nicole,
I’m not kidding, but your post made me a bit teary-eyed! Girl I LOVE YOU so much and I was praising God when I read your comment. I’m so proud that you are looking at your trials in this way. I’m still praying for you. Let me know if theres anything you need. =) I LOVE YOU!
~ Ariana Mishreki ~ =)
P.s. Pray about school, ;)
8 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
I liked this verse because it is just awesome. One thing we always need to have is FAITH. Without it, we wouldn’t really be able to believe in most things and we wouldn’t be saved. Salvation without faith is… hypocrisy. It’s basically saying that we don’t believe in it but we still do it.
We also need faith because we should have faith that God will always be with us and that he has a will for everything, even if it is not what we want, it’s about what God wants. I pray that I would always keep this faith and not just say that God will help me through tough times, but actually mean and believe it, that without God, I will fail every time.
3 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, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time
I love these verses because it reminds me of when the Lord will come and we will be able to ascend into heven. I cant wait until this day because i will be with the Lord and will be in heaven. MARANATHA!
I totally agree with verse 15. We should all be holy since God is holy. This definetly hard for all of us to follow. Even being at high schooll since not everyone is a christian there is a lot of temptation out there. Mostly with the lanuage and the gossip at school. Its sometimes hard to speak up when they use our Gods name in vain. But, we should all wants to speak up and it should bug us a lot. I am praying for a dear friend to give her the strengh to speak up and stand thier ground as a proud christian. The gossip i would lean more toward the girls on this on. I know I had more trouble in this in the begging with this on but i am much better in it now. I hope the revival is continues in all of our lives. Pray for the Revibal X to come.
This is a great chapter but I’m just gonna highlight a couple things.
3 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, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,
This is a great verse that explains the gospel and is very useful in teaching. Anyone that is unclear of how to become a Christian can see that without the death and ressurection of Christ we would never know God!
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
This verse touches on the topic of living unashamed lives set apart from the sin in the world. Through our discipleship and actions we can be the living examples that Christ is King. Some people think that Christians can blend in with the world and not stand out, when scripture like this blatantly disagrees.
What a great chapter!
________________________________________________________________
Maranatha!
8 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,
Reading this verse is such an encouragement! Even though I cannot perceive my God with my eyes or physically touch or hear Him, I come to know and love him through His Word. I can’t just expect to pray and ask the Lord to give me knowledge of him. The only way I can learn all I need to know about my God is through the Bible, and through the Bible comes this joy and assurance that He is always there. The more time I spend reading my Bible, praying, and meditating on His Words, my relationship with my Creator will grow. And this is just what my prayer is, to grow every day in my relationship with God as I read his Word and attain the knowledge He has given to me through the Bible.
Stoked to be back in 1 Peter!!
6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 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.
This is such an encouraging verse! God is pleased when I suffer, or go through trials in his name. It is proof that I am living completely unashamed of the truth that is the Gospel. When I struggle in the name of the Lord, I know that God is happy with me and that my faith is genuine! I need to be doing things that will cause me to be persecuted, not just sitting back living as an “in the closet” christian! I need to take every opportunity to be a light in this dark world for Christ.
6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 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.
Such an encouraging verse. This tells me that the hard things in my life that I feel like I can’t get through, God is testing me so that I can prove to those people around me that my faith is legit! And on top of that, it goes back to the application we learned this past weekend. Doing everything for the glory of God…its so encouraging to know that once I do get out of that trial from God’s help, it brings him glory! I need to 1. make sure that I ask God for help in those trials and have perservearance through them, and 2. come out of it and give GoD the glory!
<3
haha mine and jacksons comments are almost identical.
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
This is what I want to do! I want to follow Christ’s footsteps and grow in holiness. I need to make sure I stay focused on Jesus Christ and not get caught by the world and not get zoned out going through the day, but I need to spend all my time focused on things above and preparing and growing myself through reading the word, prayer, accountability, and discipline.
12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
YES i love this verse!! It reminded me of a sermon Bobby preached once about the old testament prophets. If they had known the truth of the future of Jesus, and his coming…they would be so amazed!! We have this truth and relationship with Christ…they never got to experience this fulfilled prophecy!! It makes me feel so grateful to live in this generation where I know Christ and the power of His resurrection!! GOD IS GOOD!! :D
YESSS!!! d:- DD
“Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.”
People throughout history, (and the angels themselves!) have LONGED to know the salvation that we have! What a blessing it is to be one of the few people in all history to have known and been saved by the Grace he provided us! There isn’t a thing in the world that we could trade for this wonderful gift!
We are truly blessed
“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘ You shall be holy, for I am holy’ ”
We are called out to be separate from the world; to follow his commands, and represent Him in all that we do.
15 “but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.”
This is a convicting verse. In everything I do, I am to be holy and set apart. I am an ambassador for Christ in everything I do, and if I misrepresent Him, what would people think of Christianity? This is why Christians have the reputation of being hypocrites, because we do not show that we are set apart from the world. My prayer is that God will use True North to completely destroy that reputation of being hypocrites and we can start a Revival in Orange County.
!!!MARANATHA!!!
3 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, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Because of God’s grace, I can enjoy in an unending paradise in Heaven, even though I am a worthless sinner. I am so grateful for that. I want to make sure to remind myself of this constantly so I can praise Him and not take it for granted.
DON’T STOP STANDING!!!
I’ve loved going through this 1st chapter at True North!
17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,
This verse reminds me of two things:
#1 – We should be Theophobes
#2 – We need to keep standing for Jesus throughout the time of our exile…as in for the rest of our lives. I pray that God will raise up many at True North who will not fall away after high school but stand strong for Christ until the end of their lives!
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,
As a Christian, I need to be submissive to the Lord’s commands and not return to my former way of life before I repented. It is so easy to go back to my former way of constant sin but that does not bring glory to the Lord. I may fall at times into sin but it no longer reigns my life.
Wow it is sooo difficult to pick verses from this chapter!
16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
This verse stood out of em thought because i have never seen it before in this book and thought it was awesome! I should be holy and perfect and act like God because He is holy and perfect! I really love verses 22-25 and they reminded me that i am born again and i have a new heart! I must be giving to heart 100% to God adn i MUST have a pure heart! In verse 22 it says, we shall love others earnestly from a pure heart! And then after it says, we are imperishable! THat is awesome to know and it goes on to say that even though we will wither away, the word of the Lord will remain FOREVER and that is all we need!
Going back to verse 6-9, i love these verses adn it is so different reading them in ESV but i love them! We will all go through trials and struggles, but the thing is we will always get through them if we trust in God. I mean God even tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that he will never let us be tempted beyond our ability so obviously we can get through the temptations and the trials in life because God is our strength and stronghold! Praise God for always being there for us (:
Have an awesome weekend!
8 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, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
“Though I have not seen Him, my heart knows him well…”
This stood out to me the first time I read it and I just had to memorize it! We as Christians live with a hope, a fire burning inside of us that cannot be compared or extinguished. We have something eternal that seems foolish to the world but that we know is true and right!! I just hope that I am able to show that to the rest of the world every chance I get!
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
This chapter really reminds me of Revival: Winter Edition. Just like in the sermons, the chapter in verse 13 says how we must set our hope fully on Christ and not the passions of this world- having a whole heart from God. I thought verses 22 and 23 were really encouraging because they say since I have been born again of the living Word of God I have new life and can and must show love like my LORD Jesus Christ. Like in Revival’s sermon, I’m encouraged to truly love others from a pure heart – like when Jonathan was willing to have David be king while he took second place. LORD, please help me to put others before myself and truly love them the way you have loved me. And thank you so much that this is possible through the power of your resurrection and the Holy Spirit.
13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Imagine a mind, prepared for action…
Only this mind will be gauged fully forward towards the anticipation of the grace that Will come when Jesus returns!
I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a ‘Maranatha mindset’ to me! Here is a command: be ready for the Lord, and set your minds in that thought scheme.
If Jesus was coming tomorrow, do you think we would be working a little harder than we are working now? Of course! The sky is the limit, and we can always step it up for Jesus Christ so that when he does return we will rejoice because we worked our hardest at all times for His glory.
Then, I refuse to compromise and I will continue to work hard for my Master because I know that any day now He is coming back! He will return soon and I beckon to Him to draw it nearer.
MARANATHA!!!!!!!!!!!!
6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 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.
True Faith is REFINED by trails, as metal by fire. God says He won’t let us be tempted beyond what we can bare, and as the saying goes, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Look at trails as a blessing, as your spiritual workout, if it hurts, that means it’s working.
17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,
In light of who God is, we are to conduct ourselves with fear. At first glance this seems interesting to me because I think of Christians as people who are called to love, which we are. It says that others will know we are Christians by our love (John 13:35). It also says we are to fear in Psalms 86:11, “unite my heart to fear your name.” Sometimes it seems that love gets the entire spotlight when we are also commanded to fear the Lord. Then, I noticed how it says that God judges impartially. This means it is perfect with no favoritism. Wow…so am I fearing the Lord? This chapter provides us with so many imperatives for everyday living; be holy, conduct yourselves with fear, rejoice with inexpressible joy, love from a pure heart. I am so thankful that God has revealed how we are to live. Let us continue to grow in our sanctification.
“All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
This really puts what I’m doing on earth into perspective. It is so important not to get caught up in what we have in this world, because it will all rot away in the end. Instead, everything I do should be to give God glory, and I should be focused on the unperishable rewards that I will recieve in heaven.
3 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, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
My inheritance is heaven. I can’t wait to get there. I had a good friend from high school die in a car accident a couple weeks ago. She loved the Lord and it was very evident in her life so I knew she was (and is) standing before God. It made me stop and think about heaven and really long for heaven. I can’t wait until I get there, where I will sin no more and I will have reward for the things I’ve done to serve God here on earth. I want to live every day with the thought that this could be my last day on earth. I want to always be ready to face a living and holy God.
1 Peter 1
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,
This verse was perfect especially coming on the heels of Revival and Small groups. The love that we have in Christ thru obedience should illuminate onto others bringing God the glory. I am so excited to see how relationships are going to change at True North. There are no excuses now for not having a solid foundation of Christian friends in our lives. With the gifts that God has endowed us we must live lives to serve and edify others before we serve our selves. I pray that we will glorify God thru our choices of friends and by the way we love them. We all need multiple David’s and Jonathan’s in our life and God is ready to deliver them to us if we are faithful to seeking them out.
1 Peter 4:8-11 8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.
Oh my goodness this entire chapter was INCREDIBLE! :D
But, to pick one verse, I choose:
7; 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.
Gold is one of the most precious metals ever, right?
And even with it being the most precious, can’t stand to the heat of fire.
Our faith needs to be even more precious than gold.
So that when we face the daily “fires” we’re given, we can withstand them and be strong in Christ.
I pray that I will have a strong enough faith so that when my Savior returns, I can walk through the “fire” and still have faith worthy of praise.
Lord, I pray for strength to make decisions good for my faith and that I will withstand temptations and make decision to please You. Help me to do every little thing to please You.
I want to be standing before You and feel completely in awe of You, and know that I did everything I could to try to make my faith and my life solely glorify You.
“What can I say? What can I do? But offer this heart, Oh God, completely to You.”
Not my will Lord, but Yours be done.
1 Peter 1:3-9
3 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, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 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. 8 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, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
I was so excited to read this chapter out of 1 Peter! 1 Peter 1 is a chapter I go to when feeling “down” – discouraged. In our walk with God, we need to constantly be living out the life He gave us, 100%, all glory and with a whole heart, for HIM. Though we may suffer, and life on Earth is full of darkness, sin, weeping and pain, we need to set our eyes on heaven, the great place He has in store for us! We need to remember to live for the “living hope” he gave us though His death on the cross, and thus being the perfect sacrifice.
God is GOOD
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,
Wow! We need to fight sin! This week at small groups, Bobby reminded us that now that we have heared the messages at Revival, we need to make sure we are putting these into practice. If we refuse to obey the Lord’s commands and forget about what we once were convicted over, we give in to our fleshly desires. I need to make sure that I am continally living in obedience, remembering to apply God’s Word to my life.
3 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, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you
What an incredible God we serve! These verses remind me so well of the perspective I must have in good times and bad, of that hope I have, that it is in a resurrected Lord who someday is going to be my ultimate reward and I will get to see him and dwell with him! I am so thankful that this is my future and nothing here and now should ever make me freak out or get so discourage that I would forget that this is what I am living for! Maranatha!
Wow, can I just quote the whole chapter? I could hardly get past the first couple of lines without being overwhelmed:
“To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood”
Peter gets right to election. Election is completely of grace, and as I’m reminded of God’s grace on me, I just want to jump with joy! The grace theme is repeated at the end of the verse: “for sprinkling with his blood.” So election is not only based on grace (not on works), but motivated by a desire to show grace. We’ve been reading Leviticus in DBR and there’s a lot of blood-sprinkling going on. It definitely helps deepen the meaning when you understand references like this.
The other main theme in the verse is sanctification. People (even I) sometimes slip into thinking that sanctification and holiness are in tension with each other. As if somehow a desire to be holy is in conflict with a desire for forgiveness. Rather, what these verses (and the entire chapter!) show us is that “obedience to Jesus Christ” is a goal of grace — of election — not in tension at all.
God has elected us, shown grace to us, and sanctified us in the Spirit to make us a holy people. More personally, He has elected me, forgiven me, and sanctified me so that I would be a holy person. I know that God is faithful. I know that he seeks his own glory above everything else, and I know that to be holy is to glorify God. Therefore I will fight with all my heart to be obedient to Jesus Christ, and I know that my cause will succeed — He has guaranteed it!
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him.
This is a motivation that I cannot forget. My Christian life needs to be fueled by a love for Jesus Christ.
17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,
This is another important motivation. No matter where I am, God can see what I am doing, and even more than that, God can see my heart! I need to remember this and live every moment with the fear of God!
7 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.
This verse reminds me that our faith is something no one can take. It’s by the power of Christ that we have it. It’s more valuable than anything and through trials we need to keep it so that day when Christ comes back we will see what we’ve had our complete hope in.
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,
This verse makes me think back to my pagan days and all the pagan things I used to do. I used to think all those pagan things were somehow making me cool or more acceptable in the world eyes. Now as a Christian who’s heart has been transplanted by doctor Jesus. I realize that my heart was chasing after pure foolishness. Now that I have been shown the truth, and realized how unpleasing my pagan ways were to God. I never want to be like that again, or participate in those activities, because I know that disobedience saddens my Heavenly Father. I want to live a life that is holy and pleasing to him. So I will therfore abstain from my old ways and follow Jesus who is the way,the truth, and the life.
After reading this I know that I need to be more obedient to my parents and mainly just people that are older! I’m younger and not as wise, so I need to submit myself to others!!! I had a changed life where I gave my life to God and so therefore my actions need to change to show that I am a Christian living up to God’s standards!!! I need to be living more above reproach!!!
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,
15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
We need to be obedient but God is holy so we need to be holy ourselves we need to live up to God and try and be like Him. We shall be holy for He is holy.
3 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,
God loves us that he killed his son for us so that we may get a chance to go to heaven. Now we should at least go out and talk to people about God because he gave us life and we should giving it all to you God.
6 For it stands in Scripture:
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Jesus is the foundation of our walk with God. Without having Jesus in our life we cannot say that we truely know God. Also we cannot say that works are what has saved us because any man(or woman) can do good works and not believe in the Savior Jesus Christ. If we do not see Jesus as our Savior, who came down as God in the flesh, and died for our sins and rose again three days later, then we do not fully understand the love of God therefore we do not love Him. Do not fall into the worlds lies that say any good person can go to heaven. Jesus even said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” No one is the key phrase; without Jesus, there is no God.
16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
This is an awesome command by God that is impossible to live by. That is, by yourself. With God’s help, however, anything is possible. I notice that when I rely on myself I fail, but when relying on God (not without doing anything of course) I succeed. Lord, let me rely on you to be holy and let me pursue holiness with all of my strength.