“But ye are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye
should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into
his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people
of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
Dearly beloved, I
beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war
against the soul; Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that,
whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which
they shall behold glorify God in the day of visitation.”
When talking to His disciples in John 15:16, Jesus says,
“You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, that you should go and bring
forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.” This message from Jesus
remains the same for all of God’s children today. There are two big things that
we need to see in this text today: first, God saves by His grace alone; and
second, he saves us for a specific purpose. The first point, God’s grace,
teaches us that God saves us simply because He wants to. This means that
it is not because of our awesomeness (even though some of us are totally
awesome). It is because of a Divine purpose that is greater than any inherent
goodness within us; God independently chose us and saved us from the bondage of
our own devices and from certain eternal destruction. So we see first that God saved us from
something; secondly, we see that God saved us to something. God saved
us according to verse 11 so that we can “abstain from (which means “live with
out”) fleshly lusts.” This is the same idea that Peter already articulated in
ch. 1, vs. 16, “Be holy.” Not only did God save us from the future punishment
of sin in eternal hell and separation from Himself, but God also saved us from
the present bondage to sin that epitomizes all of mankind. The liberty has
become the mandate. We now can live
holy lives, and according to God, we now must
live holy lives. Salvation isn’t just an ethereal, eternal concept, no,
salvation is a thing for here and now. He saved us to eternal life, starting
now. The liberating decree that has brought eternal, victory-over-sin life is a commanding decree to eternal,
victorious-over-sin living.
Food
For Thought: Read Romans 6:17-18. How do these two verses apply to the thoughts
presented in today’s devo?
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