THE HOLY BIBLE (The Contemporary English Version - 1 Peter 1:13-16): 13 Be alert and think straight. Put all your hope in how kind God will be to you when Jesus Christ appears. 14 Behave like obedient children. Don’t let your lives be controlled by your desires, as they used to be. 15 Always live as God’s holy people should, because God is the one who chose you, and he is holy. 16 That’s why the Scriptures say, “I am the holy God, and you must be holy too.”
THOUGHTS: One of the major differences between the way that parents think of their children today and how God thinks of His children, is that most worldly parents want to see their children excel and do way better than they did in life. We are often ashamed of some of the things that we did in our lifetime, so we try to impress upon our kids the importance of doing so much better than we ever found possible. God’s Word shows us how different God is in His expectations of us, for He was, and is, the only truly holy One that ever lived, and because He loves us so much, He wants us to be just like Him, especially in holiness. I find it beyond comprehension that God would look down over billions of people on this earth, and yet choose me. Friends, if you have ever surrendered your life to Jesus and accepted Him as Lord and Savior, then you have accepted the call of the One who also chose you. Think about that friend. In spite of our obstinate, disagreeable, sinful acts and thoughts and our unworthiness, yet God chose us! Wow! So if the holy God chose us, would it not make sense that He chose us to conform us to His likeness, His holiness, His attitude towards life and each other? Friends, if we act unholy and unrighteous and sinful in every way – characteristics totally opposite to our Father, should we not reassess our relationship to our Father? Did we truly answer the call of God on our life? Often we just need a wake-up call such as this scripture, or a sermon orchestrated by God, or something similar to draw our attention to our weakened spirit. God said that He is holy, and we must be holy also. So what needs to change in your life to enable you to stand before our all-knowing God and proclaim “Yes Lord, I feel like I am holy, much like I know of Your perfect and holy life”. This takes a lot of personal assessment, and constant realigning of our attitudes and actions, that seem so easily distracted by Satan and his cohorts. We live in a world that does not conform to the ways of God, but just as God has set us aside as His chosen vessel, we too can make deliberate choices to refrain from sinful acts and instead live like God has ordained – holy and righteous. It’s a choice, but can only be attained with the help of our Lord and Savior.
PRAYER: Father I thank You for Your Word, and its content, because It is orchestrated and inspired by You, therefore it allows You to speak directly to the hardened hearts of Your children. Thank You for choosing me to be Your precious chosen one! I believe that some will read this devotional today that may be a Brother or Sister in the faith, because they have also felt the touch of Your hand on their life, and accepted You as their Savior. We are daily challenged to stay strong in the faith Lord, but I believe that in choosing us, You have set us apart from this world and is available to us daily to help us deal with the Evil One. I also feel like You are still dealing with folk even today, for I have family and friends who have yet to accept Your call on their life. I pray that today might be the day of salvation for them. Please do Your miracle working thing in their lives and redirect their attention towards You. For Your children that should be living holy lives as indicated by Your servant Peter, I pray that You would not give up on us, but daily instruct, guide and strengthen us for the challenge of holiness in an unholy world that we are a part of. We need You Father, and we want You to be our God. Our desire is to be just like you in every way, especially in holiness. I ask this humbly in the precious and holy name of Jesus, and for His sake, AMEN!
FOOTNOTE: If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com so that we can pray with you and give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Any words underlined above will indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to blogger.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. If you are anywhere near the Highlands County, Florida area and do not have a church home, I would be thrilled to welcome you at Bible Fellowship Church, Sebring, FL! Click the link to check out service times and/or other special activities. God is at work among us! Please consider coming to worship with us!
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