1 Peter 1:22
How hard is in to lend to someone who you feel doesn’t deserve it? How hard is it to speak a kind word to someone who despises you? How hard is it to turn the other cheek and walk away? On the contrary, how easy is it to speak you mind? How easy is it to wish bad on someone? How easy is it to retaliate and turn the other person’s cheek…? These are the questions that we must answer within ourselves today… These are the things that we face on a daily basis and these things show where we are currently in our spiritual walk and how much further we still have to go… Taking on a mind of Christ leads us to extend a helping hand and not dig a pit for another to fall in… In today’s study verse Peter speaks about the love and desire we should have as a child of God walking under the influence of the Lord… Notice that this passage says that you have purified your souls through obeying the truth by the Spirit. Before we can walk we must first stand up, before we can speak we must first open our mouths; Peter reminds us today that we are called to love one another, we are called to exalt one another, and we are called to have unfeigned love one for another as a child of God… The love that Peter talks about is instilled in us by God and only can be placed within us when we first turn unto Him… We are purified through the Spirit which guides and directs our lives; to be purified means that you have been cleansed, sanitized or filtered…
Through the accepting of Jesus Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit our purification process has begun, we have been cleansed from the sin that chained us to death, we have been sanitized by the blood of Jesus and filtered through His love and sacrifice… Without the presence of the Holy Spirit residing within you, you cannot accomplish anything. We have to be lead by the spirit; we have to have the Holy Spirit abiding within us. Remember Christ spoke to the disciples prior to His departure and said that you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes; we through the Spirit have the ability to overcome and be victorious on this earth. It is also through the Spirit that we can love unconditionally; we can help our enemies, and be kind to those who show no kindness towards us. Understand today that this is not possible until you have “purified your souls…” If you are still living the life of sin and focused on the desires of the world than you will not be able to love your brother/sister or love with a pure heart… In the world everything is done for personal gain or exposure, in the spirit everything is done to glory God and life up one another… In order to focus on lifting one another as oppose to tearing one another down you must first acknowledge where you stand and in which direction you want to go… We all must be purified; however, this cannot be done if we believe that we are already clean… This is why Peter says these things contained in this verse… The only way to love fervently is through the Lord, the only way to have unfeigned love for your brethren is through the Lord… You must purge the evil that is born within you in order to receive the spirit of God that will guide you to know heights and have you doing things you never thought possible…
Jesus gave us a New Commandment prior to leaving the earth, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” The greatest command we have as a child of God is to love one another, Jesus gave this command because if we are doing things out of love we will abide within the will of God and also the laws instituted by God and the world we live in… Peter says that we are not only to love, but to love fervently; we must have a passion to love, zeal to love, an excitement to love and a (n) eagerness to love… The love that Peter is speaking of isn’t gained overnight, but is learned through the experiences we go through and the mindset that we have… Again, before you can walk you must learn to stand; before you can love fervently you must learn how to simply be kind and overcome evil with good… Love is a word that is better described and defined by actions… When someone has zeal, they have a willingness, a (n) excitement or passion for something; and it is shown by how they approach a task or mission… When we talk about loving as Christ loved, I should be able to see all those traits in your lifestyle as a Christian. Remember, greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends!!!!!! That is Jesus showing His fervent love for us! HOW ABOUT YOU!
ALL FOR HIS GLORY!
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