Fearful because of love – 1 Peter 1:17-19

1 Peter 1 says, “¹⁷Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. ¹⁸For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, ¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”

Fear is one of those weird aspects of the bible that people often struggle with. It doesn’t make a whole bunch of sense that we should fear those we love. As a matter of fact, it’s considered martial abuse when a wife fears her husband because abuse is assumed at that point. But what Peter is talking about is completely different. I took a passage from the trusted Bible Knowledge Commentary: Obedient children know the holy nature and just character of this One who judges . . . impartially. Their right to call God Father leads to their obeying Him in reverent fear. So they are to live according to His absolute standards, as strangers (cf. “aliens” in 2:11) to the world’s shifting, situational ethics. “Reverent fear” is evidenced by a tender conscience, a watchfulness against temptation, and avoiding things that would displease God.

Let me try to explain this fear another way. We all love our cars. They get us where we need to be, sometimes they look really cool, they make work possible, they get our kids to school, cars are great! But we all have a healthy fear we teach our kids concerning cars. We tell them to look both ways before crossing the street because the car can kill you! But we don’t live our daily lives absolutely fearing cars. We fear them because we respect them. With God it’s sort of like that. We love God, we respect God because we know his power, so we should fear him too. He deserves to be feared!

How do I apply this to my life? I think today I apply it by knowing not to abuse his love and grace! I need God to help me to not abuse his love and grace, but instead do right because he deserves my love and fear.

What would be written about me?

Today in the Life Journal we read about King Hezekiah. It says about him, “Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after his time. ⁶ He remained faithful to the Lord in everything, and he carefully obeyed all the commands the Lord had given Moses.”

In the days of the kings of Israel and Judah, we see that most of the kings were NOT following God’s commands. The only 3 that come to mind who were righteous are David, Hezekiah, and Josiah. There were a few others that did right in the eyes of God like Josephat and Uzziah. However, when we read the Old Testament we see that each king has a story. And most don’t end well.

Have you ever wondered what people would write about you after your death. I can’t think of any better statement than that of Hezekiah. My prayer is that my story would be the same!

What Is God Saying About You?

Have you ever wondered what God thinks about you? Seriously, I know he loves all of his creation, but what kinds of words does he use to describe you and how you fit in his creation? This is what he said about David, the future king of Israel:

¹ A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

² The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD – Isaiah 11: 1-2

And that is just the beginning! It goes on to describe who and what David will do. For some who read this they may think, “Wow, God really likes David…I wish that was me.” I was thinking that too for a second. Then I realized that God is saying the same kind of stuff about me! He’s given me the same spirit of David, because David had the same spirit as Jesus…who now lives in me. So God is saying the same things about me! Try reading Isaiah 11 but put your name in the context of what Isaiah is writing. Try it! I know what you’re thinking, “I’ve screwed up.” And you would be right. But that’s seems to be how God works…with screw ups! Look at even the life of David…he will screw up just like you and I have.

So what do we do now? We remember who we are in Christ and start living it daily. Start today. Change your ways today. Do something different! You are David!

Waywardness

Hosea 14 ⁴ “I will heal their waywardness
and love them freely,
for my anger has turned away from them.

If ever there were a people who continually seemed to make more steps backwards than forwards, it was the Israelites. We read these passages and probably all have the same thoughts…why couldn”t they get it right?!

But who am I to judge. Am I any more righteous? I fall just as they did. But we have two things in common: we fall, then God picks us up!

Thank you God for picking us all up time and time again!

White as Snow – like Durango, Colorado

Isaiah 1

¹⁸ “Come now, let us reason together,”
says the LORD.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.

¹⁹ If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat the best from the land;

The second line of Isaiah says, “² Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the LORD has spoken: “I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.” It’s easy for me to judge and say, “oh Israel…when will you learn?” But that would be the pot calling the kettle black! I have rebelled against God. However, I know something. I know how to become white as snow!

Florida doesn’t really know what a fine sheet of white snow looks like. I think the coolest memory I have of snow is in the mountains outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico near Durango. We were on a staff retreat and decided  – to go snow mobiling. We took our snow mobiles up the mountain to a point where we could see the snow-covered valley below. Everything was white except for patches of tall tree tops. That snow was so white that if you didn’t wear sunglasses, you could literally burn your eyes. That’s the biggest reason you wear sunglasses when in snow. It reflects the sun perfectly because it is so white and brilliant. As I think about that I can reflect on the fact that because of Jesus Christ, I have been made that pure and clean, white as snow!

I don’t deserve it. I assure you that none of us do, but God, out of mercy and love, decided to give us a way, Jesus. Even though we have rebelled, we can be washed from the stain of sin and be made white as snow.

Thank you God for loving me more than I could ever begin to love you. Thank for the second chance. Thank you for calling me a son.