Cured

DEVOTION 1 PETER CURED 1 Peter 2:23-25 23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. NIV An continuation being commendable but in a far greater sense. It is not just being mistreated and at that it has to be due to our faith, and not our failure to do a good job, but it is more about the actually suffering we may have to endure because of our faith. Yet there is an even larger picture drawn out for us in these words Peter was inspired to pen. It is all about Jesus here and the result which totally influences our future. After so many years of being one of the flock belonging to the Shepherd and overseer of my soul, I cannot imagine once being astray, yet so many are. The question which seems to plague many believers is how we actually die to sin, when even as believers we still commit sin. Granted we no longer live simply for the pure pleasure of sinning, but rather attempt to live in a manner which pleases God, but fail in that effort all too often. It would appear sin is a sickness, a sickness of the disease of self. Now living for self instead of God is certainly going astray from the original plan God had for mankind. But Jesus heals that sickness, if we accept the cure God provided we will be healed. Are there still fragments of self still within, or have we been cured completely? Even with a few failures to live a perfect sinless life, we have been cured completely. We have been saved from the disease which would kill our souls. We have been cured from the sickness which would bring us to our ultimate peril, and perishing. Because of Christ who bore our sins on the cross we have been healed and are not a member of his family, his flock, his kingdom and he is our overseer. Could we get sick again? We may very well if we leave the protection of his divine watch. If we refuse to stay we may very well be subject to getting infected all over again with that dreadful disease. But, Praise God we are here, we are healed, we are now whole with no evidence of the sickness of self. God sees us through the blood of Christ and we are righteous in his sight. We are cured.