Now, we have lived, in our formers lives, submitting to the desires of the flesh, and from this we reaped “lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.” – Now read the above sentence again and let in sink in for a minute…. Do you see the rewards of following the flesh? Is this the life we should be living, a life of unending partying and clubbing, a life of orgies and sexual immorality, a life of greed, envy and strife? Is it? Of course no, no way! That WAS our former way for life, but now we have a new one- a Kingdom life, a life so different from what the world expects or regards as normal such that the world will be “surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you.” Now, when the abuse is heaped on us, then then we will feel the suffering I am speaking of here. Hehehe… I think we are now beginning to see why the apostle Paul said we should rejoice when we participate in the suffering of Christ. For more than sharing in the glory of Christ, we now know that we should accept this suffering, and this should make it easier… ok, more bearable.
“But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.” Now there is a scary statement! Judgment is not a fable, it is real and it is coming. We will all have our day to answer for the type and kind of lives we have led, and each will be judged according to what he knows. So if you are reading this, you now know the truth, so there, your excuse of ignorance is out the window! The living God will ask us to account for all, each and everything, so if we do not have a good excuse, which I believe there is none, I suggest we quit pleasing this world and live the new life Jesus died to give us! About this, I will be blunt and say no more.
For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit. There are many reasons, I believe the gospel is preached, and here we are told one of them. Now if you read my previous blog, I ended with a deep conviction on whether we decide to choose life or death because judgment is coming. Now in the same vein I will continue. While the judgment of God, the fear-worthy judgment of God is coming, we are already facing a much less but quite sorrowful judgment here on earth. This judgment is according to human standards and though I somehow feel inclined not to label it sorrowful, I will maintain that it is so in the sense that it is us human beings who judge each other and to me that is pathetic- maybe then I should label it a pathetic judgment- which is also guaranteed! People will judge you when we are not like them: they will call you pretender and a hypocrite if you decide to go to church on New Year’s Eve instead of going to the club like you used to; they will laugh at you and call you weak and a failure when you decide to quit smoking, drinking, fornication and clubbing; they will hate you because you do not gossip and use perverted language with them anymore; they will call you old and boring because your choice in movies, and music is no longer bordering on X-rated; I mean the world will judge you for just about anything that is not “normal” to them- by human standards. But remember, that we “live according to God in regard to the spirit.”- and this is why we live a different lifestyle. The lifestyle of the one, who lives for Christ, should be seen! Do not think salvation is a onetime process and once you receive it, it’s a done deal. No. Salvation, though free, needs to be worked at to be maintained. Paul in his letter to the Philippians urges them to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling”. So as we live, no, as we choose to live according to God, we are working out the salvation we received, because choosing this life, like we have previously seen, comes with a lot of suffering in this world. But is eternal life, joy and the glory of God so small a trifle in our esteem, as not to be worth a few fleshly sacrifices? Is eternal life so steep a purchase, as not to deserve the temporary renunciation of a few worldly pleasures? Surely it is.
The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Lastly, Peter exhorts us to pray after a warning about the end of things. Now let us take the statement “The end of all things” verbatim. Read it again. “All things”! not some things, not earthly things, not bad things, but “all things”. People, everything is coming to an end, things we see and do not see; things we have and long to have; things we love and those we hate; all things are going to perish. I believe this might be the reason Jesus said that we should not store things on earth, but in heaven. So when Peter tells us to have an alert and sober mind, it denotes that there is a possibility of losing focus and being confused by the things of this world, in this world, which will wash away anyway. You see, it is easy for us to become so wrapped up in our day to day activities and the material things in the world hoping that they will give us what we need in life. We get absorbed by our jobs, our families, our material possessions, our lax and worldly lifestyle that we are bound to forget that all these things will be gone one day and all we will have left will be the last account that we will give to God of what we did on this earth, to glorify Him- yes we were created for that reason. Friends, what will you tell God? How will you tell him that you chose the world and rejected him, yet all He had for you was love? Think on that, people. Think!
So as Peter lastly exhorts us, let us pray…
Let us pray that when we suffer in this world, we are always mindful of the sufferings of Jesus Christ and like him the spirit of the Lord will always grow in us the attitude to persevere the judgment of the world. Let us pray that we continue against all odds, to work out our salvation and live a life according to the will of God our father who created us to glorify his name among the people so that people may believe. Let us lastly pray, that we always consciously choose life, and the treasures of heaven and that we always keep a sober and watchful mind, a mind full of prayer, and a heart full of the word of God. In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment