Maturity in Your Salvation

THE HOLY BIBLE (New Century Version – 1 Peter 2:1-3): ¹ So then, rid yourselves of all evil, all lying, hypocrisy, jealousy, and evil speech. ² As newborn babies want milk, you should want the pure and simple teaching. By it you can mature in your salvation, ³ because you have already examined and seen how good the Lord is.

THOUGHTS: I believe that a very basic difference between an infant and an adult is that the infant is totally dependent on others, while the mature adult has experienced a lot, and looks for ways to share their experiences and/or knowledge with others. If we're not careful, often we (adults) will become so independent that it becomes challenging to listen to advice and or follow good, sound advice. There are so many references in the Bible for us to consider the ways of a child, that I believe God is telling us to get over 'self' and be willing to listen to Him and or other saints that He may place in our path. Through Peter, God is warning us today that we should rid ourselves of some obvious sins that tend to impact our need for Him and/or His teachings. These include: all kinds of evil (think about this as a soiled garment that you should shed); all lying, all hypocrisy; all jealously and all evil speech. On the last item, I once heard: from the heart, the mouth speaketh. If your heart is full of Christ then You will speak of the One who was crucified, arose, and lives inside of us giving us hope and anticipation of one day living eternally with Him. I believe another way of saying this is that what's inside will come out in our actions and/or our speech. In our group Bible study yesterday we learned from James 3:13-18 what we should look for in identifying our worldly actions vs our godly actions. I would urge you to read those verses in conjunction with this study today, because the sooner we could recognize Satan's effect on our lives, the sooner we can realign ourselves with God and draw close to Him. When I think of maturing in our faith, I think of us realizing the futility in trying to solve all of the issues of the world ourselves, but instead realizing our dependence on God, who has proven Himself to us over and over again throughout our Christian life. So friends, I believe this is a message for all Christians today, let us shed off our cloak of evil, let us draw close to God, allow Him to draw close to us, and let's be willing to stop and listen to Him as He works out His will and way in our lives. It is only then that we will be of any godly good to others.

PRAYER: Lord God, You are merciful to us, in spite of our littleness, our weaknesses and our selfish attitudes. Thank You for loving us in spite of ourselves. Thank You for Your Word that is so alive and applicable to our lives every day. There is so much to be done with this child of Yours, and I am pretty sure that there are many out there in similar condition to myself. So Lord, I place myself at Your feet once again today and pray that Your perfect will might be accomplished in me, so that it might also be accomplished through me, and have an eternal impact on those that I come into contact with. I have a strong suspicion that my readers might all be in a similar condition today, so I pray for their total surrender and obedience also. Lord, we are Your hands and Your feet on the ground here, may we represent You well, and without wavering. May You be exampled in our lives so that the unsaved might catch a glimpse of Jesus. Like a baby, I need You Every Hour. Like an adult, I need Your wisdom, protection, direction, love and boldness to touch lives in the same way that You have been merciful to me. I ask these things in faith, and in the awesome name of Jesus, my Lord and my Savior, 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 read through Biblical truths on How To Know Jesus, 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!