DO YOU KNOW YOUR PART?

One of the truly gracious aspects of our relationship with God is that as part of our inheritance he has allotted to each of us a gift as a functioning part in his kingdom. 

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so 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 for ever and ever. Amen.

1 Peter 4:10-11 (NIV)

What is your gift? What is the function you play as a part of the body of Christ? Are you where you need to be to function as a participant in the church? 

If I am not participating in church as a functional part, I am not fully experiencing my relationship with Christ and to be transparent on this, I am not where I think I should be. I am involved with the men's study at my church. But, I am not really serving. So, these verses speak to me to encourage me to do what the Spirit has put upon my heart. I ask you to join me and seek to serve where you see the need.

Father, may you lead us by your Spirit to do what you have called and purposed for us to do. We believe you  are faithful and will complete what you have started in us. Praise be to you in us today!

DO YOU NEED A BREAKTHROUGH?

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

I Peter 4:8

The very life of Christ, his death, his resurrection and his intercession demonstrate the truth of this verse! His love covers over the multitude of our sins.

I am a sinner, married to a sinner and we have four children who are also sinners. That means we all need God's love. God so loved us that he sent his One and Only Son to die for our sins, to forgive us. That act of love open a way for us to be his children, to have a relationship with the Father. Our forgiveness, our love opens the way for our relationships with each other. Without this forgiveness, this love we just have walls. There is much more to love than just forgiveness, as I Corinthians 13 points out, but forgiveness is a fundamental ingredient of our Christianity.  

Is there someone coming to mind as you read this? Is there a relationship where you have been hurt or you know you have hurt someone? Love, forgiveness covers a multitude of sins. 

Father, help us to love each other as you have loved us in Christ. Praise be to you in us today!

WHO ME? SUFFER?

Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 

I Peter 4:1-2

I think one of our normal impulses is to avoid bodily suffering. Also, physical or maybe corporal punishment kind of went out of vogue in the sixties and seventies. That may be part of the reason why these verses can seem so foreign to us. Early Christians who suffered for their faith in Christ, often suffered physically. Peter and John were threatened before the Sanhedrin (Acts 4) and later flogged (Acts 5:40). Although I believe Christianity is under attack here in the United States, we generally don't suffer physically for our faith. 

The suffering of Christ, not just on the cross, but leading up to the cross is so radical because he chose to suffer for our sins. Suffering is to remind us that Christ suffered for our sins. Life is not really about fulfilling all our desires. True life can only be found in knowing Christ. Knowing Christ is knowing his death and resurrection. That is why Paul spoke of "the fellowship of sharing in his suffering, becoming like him in his death" (Philippians 3:10-11). 

The point is that in whatever form suffering comes, let it remind you of the death Christ bore on the cross for you. 

Father, thank you for counting us worthy to suffer in any way for you. Praise be to you in us today!