Hey Friends! I am so excited to start this new series with you. Ladies Night started as a women’s hangout within our church and is evolving into so much more! I feel like lately God has put on my heart to share my devotions, so that’s what this is about. For those of you who don’t know, my husband and I lead Nineteen Hundred Church we launched this past year and boy has it been a wild ride! With all the craziness, I have realized how important it is to pause and take a few minutes to reflect on God’s word. My prayer is that this speaks words of life and encouragement to you. Happy reading!
1 PETER 1:13-25 NLT
A CALL TO HOLY LIVING
13 So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. 14 So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”
17 And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.” 18 For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. 20 God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.
21 Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.
22 You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.
23 For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. 24 As the Scriptures say,
“People are like grass;
their beauty is like a flower in the field.
The grass withers and the flower fades.
25 But the word of the Lord remains forever.”
And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.
Holy living? What even is that?
Holy means dedicated, devoted, or set apart to God.
It took me a long time to see that I wasn’t sacrificing my own desires. I couldn’t see past what I wanted for my own life, to see instead what God wanted for my life. I had to start out slow. I began to learn that I needed to change one thing, then another, then another…you get the idea. Trusting Jesus wasn’t a quick fix. It took time, obedience, falling flat on my face and trusting He would pick me up.
When we think of selfish desires, we think of someone doing terrible things. In reality, a selfish desire just means its about your self. We have these desires all the time without even realizing it! We need to ask ourselves if our desires/actions are temporary or eternal.
Things in your life may not necessarily be bad, but if thats not where God is leading you, then you may be choosing self over what God is leading you to.
1. Reflect to a time in your life when you sacrificed your own desires?
2. Do you find yourself more fixated on the temporary things of life and lose your eternal perspective?
3. Pray that God will allow you to see a eternal perspective this week.
xo
Cadie