DEVOTION
THE 1ST LETTER OF PETER
LOVING DEEPLY
1 Peter 1:22-25
22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that
you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the
heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of
perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of
God. 24 For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the
flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25 but the word
of the Lord stands forever." And this is the word that was preached to
you.
NIV
First of all, we have to know that it is not possible for us to obey every
last bit of all of scripture which would make us a perfect human being. How can
we ever think of ourselves as perfectly obedient, which is completely free of
all sin? Even if we thought we were sinless, that in itself would be a sin for
that would be spiritual pride. What Peter is speaking about is that we have purified
ourselves by accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. He is the one who
makes us holy. We are holy and blameless, without accusation in the sight of
God because we are in Christ. However, saying that there is a result of being
in Christ. Not only are we purified, but we are told to have sincere love for
each other, a deep love from our hearts. This is not acting like we love each
other. This is not a false love, a one that is forced because we are
Christians. This is supposed to be a sincere love from deep within us. That would
require a full-fledged investigation of the love God inspired Paul to define in
his letter to the Corinthians. Although most young couples choose to have that
read at their wedding, it may not resonate throughout their lives or the lives
of believers who read it. We have to remind ourselves concerning that love on a
regular basis, for we find ourselves failing ever so often. When we consider
that all of us have been born again, we all are in the same relationship with
the Lord. He is not a respecter of persons. He does not love one of us more
than any other, he loves us all the same, with all his love. He loves for us is enduring,
non-perishable. He is reminding us that is the kind of love we are to have for
each other. As we observe ourselves, we can see believers getting their feeling
hurt, leaving the church, going off, even in anger, holding grudges, refusing
to forgive. We see believers acting out in self-interest all too often. We have
to be careful not to be judgmental or critical, but to love others. When we
consider how frail and temporary our time here is, like grass or flowers. No
matter how much we flourish, or how much glory we try to attain for ourselves,
we all wither and fall. We are weak without Christ. The word of God is the only
thing that sustains us and we should understand that we should see all men as
our equal, no favoritism, rudeness, or selfishness, but always being kind,
gentle, patience with each other, not being envious of each other, not being
boastful about our lives, our achievements, or position, not easily angered
when someone does something we think is not right or we think is against us.
This type of love never keeps any record of wrongs that are done against us by
someone. That means forgiving and never bringing it up again. Oh, this list
could go on and on, but it is a love that endures, just as Peter is showing us
how the word of God endures. He gives us that example to show us how the deep
love from our heart is supposed to endure, which means it is not fickle or it
does not depend on what others do. It is what we are to do, love deeply from
the heart.
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