Welcome!
Today: An uncompromising life, for His unconditional love!
Passage: 1 Peter 1
17 Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. 18 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, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (1 Peter 1, NIV84) –emphasis added
God is love. At the same time, He is a God of justice
Instead of the church penetrating the world, the world is getting into the church these days. We are becoming “friends of the world” and strangers to God, instead of becoming friends of God and strangers to the world!
A “compromise” life style is preferred over a committed one
The problem is: we will simply miss Jesus when He comes
(Most people in the Church today don’t even care about it!)
God loves the sinner, but hates sin. The same God who forgives our sins will one day be the judge of our lives!
God’s love towards us was so much that God redeemed us with a huge price- the suffering and sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. For the same reason, if we deliberately choose to sin, the punishment will be heavy!
The traditions of our forefathers, which many count “important”, God calls it “empty” -because it does not do us any good. Instead, it was the sacrifice of Jesus that did us all the good-giving us salvation for our souls, from the grip of Satan. All we can do with tradition is that we can simply boast about it!
Paul the apostle was a man with a great tradition. But when he met Christ, he found out that his tradition didn’t amount to any good. He counted it all dung, when Jesus became everything for him
Many people want to mix both. They want to boast about their tradition while boasting about God also. However, the two don’t mix well!
In the early church, Jews had a big ego problem with the Greeks/gentiles.
Even today, we can see this; one group looks down on the other…!
When the love of Jesus conquers us completely, we cannot not do that anymore!
When we really know how precious a blood Jesus shed for us and the extent of His love for us, we can only count others of more value than us!
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Phil 2, NIV 84)
May God help us to live our lives reverently, uncompromising and in Christ-like love and humility. When we sow disrespect to others, we will reap the same!
Have a blessed day!
BG
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for loving me unconditionally, without any reservations. Help me to be a channel of that love to others, while not compromising with the world and sin-considering others better than me. Amen
“The best way to prove our love for God is to hate sin”