Live for righteousness

I'm struggling to get very far in my bible lately. 1 Peter has me hooked. For days now, I have been stuck in the first two chapters, feeling like God is teaching me the same lesson over and over and over, and still every time I'm left ecstatic and desiring change in my life.

I sent out a text with the verse:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. - 1Peter 1:3-5

With this God was reminding me, "Philip, I won't let you go, ever, and you can't do anything to lose this new life I gave you". When God speaks, He is powerful, so there is no point in resisting it.

Then, since I got that- I'm saved and God will keep it that way- He told me what was next.

As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." - 1 Peter 1:14-16

Live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. -1 Peter 1:17(b)-19

I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul- 1 Peter 2:11

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness- 1 Peter 2:24

Over and over and over. Don't sin, don't sin, don't sin- Make War (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4lwYRUwDRM)! Live for righteousness. Not that this is what saves me. No, don't ever mix it up, or you risk turning into a religious pharisee (see my side thought on this). But a key word in verse 13 explains it all. Before urging Christians to live holy lives, he talks about the amazing gift of salvation God gave us, the inexpressible and glorious joy He gave us, something even the angels long to see and understand. Amazing, and it must be understood before the next thought. Then the connecting word "Therefore". So the thought is, in view of all that God gave to you and what he did for you- be holy, reject sin! Not because that is what good religious people do, but that is really the only sound response in light of all that God does. Does this make sense? It is the idea of regeneration- which I don't want to get into, this blog is already way too long, but it gets me fired up and God is reminding me (and hopefully you as well now) what my motivations must be. Live a holy life because of Him, not to play church.


It all starts with God, not us. He loved us first, so now we love him. He showed us mercy, so we show mercy. He took a completely unjustified beating on the cross, so we bear up under unjust punishment. He is holy, so we also live as holy.





Side thought: Here is a scary statistic

"Women identifying themselves as Protestants obtain 37.4% of all abortions in the U.S.; Catholic women account for 31.3%, Jewish women account for 1.3%, and women with no religious affiliation obtain 23.7% of all abortions. 18% of all abortions are performed on women who identify themselves as "Born-again/Evangelical"."- http://www.abortionno.org/Resources/fastfacts.html

Why are there so many Christan women getting abortions? Here is my thought- obviously it isn't true for every case, but this is how I make sense of it. People so desperately want to look like a "good christian", so if they get pregnant before marriage, they are caught with a big sin. Oh no! They will loose their image! Everybody knows that sex outside of marriage is a sin, but God forbid that anybody ever be caught in their sin! Abortion is a way to cover it up. To keep their image as a good christian that never screws up, never gets in trouble. What gets pushed over and over (not even on the pulpit, but just by the culture, by you and me) is "follow these rules, and you'll be okay" instead of remembering God's grace and the response that it should cause in us. Religion- as the word is used today- FAILS. God doesn't like it, he doesn't honor it, and we can see that the result is that people don't really live any differently than an atheist. We must remember the first half of 1 Peter 1 before we start pushing the second half. Lets show mercy and grace towards each other when we stumble, instead of putting such great fear in each other that we have to hide our sins. How many children would still be alive today if we weren't so religious?