May 31, 2022 LONGINGS OF THE HEART
1 Peter 1:3-4, 2:1-3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” “Therefore putting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.”
Salvation is no small issue or something to be taken lightly, or to be neglected because we think we have a complete understanding of our salvation. If we equate salvation with praying the ‘sinner’s prayer,’ or see salvation as a one-time experience in the past, we are falling way short of what salvation means. In the verses above, we are admonished to be growing in respect to salvation. Our salvation is not to be taken lightly or neglected because God, according to His GREAT mercy, has caused us to be born again to a living hope that we might obtain the inheritance that He has reserved for us. Our motivation for reading God’s word and living in a way that pleases Him should flow out of the fact that He has called us, and caused us to be born again, and has shown us great mercy. Our salvation is far greater than we now understand it to be; there is room for growth in regards to our salvation. Salvation is to impact how we live daily; there are certain things that we are to ‘put on,’ and there are things we are to ‘put off’ or ‘lay aside.’ It could be summed up by saying that we are to lay aside anything that is unlike God, and we are to put on anything that is like God. The above scriptures names a few things we are to lay aside; all malice, guile, hypocrisy, and envy. Malice is the intent or desire to do evil; guile is being sly or cunning; hypocrisy is when actions and words contradict what one says he believes; envy is desiring what others have. Because of what God has done on our behalf, our focus in life should shift from ourselves to all that it means to be born again into the kingdom of God. The key is that when we come to understand our true identity-who we are in Him and who He is in us-and we come to know personally His great love for us, our heart and our focus naturally turn to Him. As the verse above instructs us, may we long for the pure milk of God’s word and may we grow in respect to our salvation-there is more to learn and more to experience. God has called us to Himself!
Hebrews 2:10-11 “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,”
Blessings, Buddy
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