Abstain

DEVOTION 1 PETER ABSTAIN 1 Peter 2:11-12 11 Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. NIV We are back to being aliens and strangers, which certainly sets the stage for our attitude and behavior here in this world. But here we are admonished to abstain from sinful desires. This is merely not acting out in a sinful manner, but actually not lusting after something which is not pleasing to God. That could be a whole host of things that we should really pay attention to. So what would be a sinful desire? Surely the list would be made up of things that war against our soul. Do I dare make a list? Is the list the same for every believer? Are there some more personal than others? The whole idea here is that we are either at home in the Kingdom of God or at home in the world. We cannot be both. We cannot find a comfort in the things of this world whether they be sensual in nature or in pursuit of personal gain and material possessions. If our desire is for these things it may well be the ruin of us for they do war against our soul. We can become entangled in the things of this world so easily for having a desire surely will produce an action in some manner or form. This process may be so incremental we barely even notice it happening, but it is and we may be ensnared in its grip before we are aware of it, trapped and caged. So we must be on a constant guard, an every watchful lookout for anything which could drag us from our home in heaven. Whether we realize it or not unbelievers watch how we live, and if we live the same way they do, they might think we are being a bit hypocritical, but for the most part don’t care. It is when we live for God out in the open and out loud, making waves in the world, spreading the Good News, doing things for God, that is when they get uncomfortable and start the attack. That is when they accuse us of wrong doing because we are exposing their sin. We simply need to live for God period and let the chips fall where they may. We need to abstain.