Live as Servants of God

Meditations in the Season of Lent 

March 31, 2023

Live as Servants of God

Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul.

1 Peter 2:11 (NRSV)

Read: 1 Peter 2:11-17

Today concludes my Lenten meditations. Beginning Monday, April 3, 2023, I will have meditations for Holy Week.

Remember, our life belongs to God, by creation and redemption, our life belongs to God. Peter is appealing to this truth by referring to the new community of believers as aliens and exiles. We are called to live in the world, but not be a part of the world, or as Peter wrote earlier, not let the world corrupt us.

These first Christian communities, when challenged about their ideas, pointed to their actions. They believed that their behavior said what they believed; it was an enactment of their Gospel message. A Bishop of the church said it this way:

“Beloved brethren…[we] are philosophers not in words, but in deeds;

we exhibit our wisdom not by our dress, but by truth;

we know virtues by their practice rather than through boasting of them;

we do not speak great things but we live them.”

Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, A.D. 256

Later in this epistle, Peter will encourage the church to, “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you.” (1 Peter 3:15 NRSV) But the primary means of evangelism of the early church was through their lifestyle. Their love for one another, and their holding fast to their moral and ethical beliefs, over and against the world’s culture, was their boldest witness. In the Fifth Century, Saint Patrick would follow this same model when he returned to Ireland. His witness forever changed Ireland, England and much of Europe.

My Takeaway: More and more, I am seeing churches accommodate their beliefs to the world’s culture. And more and more, I am seeing churches embrace partisan politics. We must always remember, as aliens and exiles, our calling is to witness for God’s Kingdom.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2023 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.