~ The Christian’s Manner
of Life ~
The book of
1 Peter provides several different looks at the lifestyles of God’s children.
In The Past (an ungodly lifestyle) ~ “And if you call on
the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct
yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible
things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition
from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot [a contrast to our blemished and spotted sinful
lifestyle]. He
indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in
these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from
the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God” (1 Peter 1:17-21). We have
many examples in Scripture, including Lot, of those who were delivered by God:
[God] “delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed
by the filthy conduct of the wicked” (2 Peter
2:7). Fortunately, God’s Word tells us
how to rise above our environment: “You put off,
concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to
the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in
the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created
according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24).
Scripture tells us clearly how we are to live our lives
before God, in our homes, our transactions, and our neighborhood.
Before God (live a righteous lifestyle) ~
“He who would love life and see good days, let
him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good; let
him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to
their prayers; but the face of the Lord is
against those who do evil” (1 Peter 3:10-12).
In The Home (appropriately subject to one another) ~ “Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that
even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the
conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging
the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel—rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty
of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. For in this manner, in former times, the holy
women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own
husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if
you do good and are not afraid with any terror” (1 Peter 3:1-6).
In Business (honest in all your dealings) ~ “I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly
lusts which war against the soul, having
your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you
as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in
the day of visitation” (1 Peter 2:11-12).
In The Community (do good in all your affairs) ~ “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and
rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the
revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to
the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as
He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it
is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter
1:13-16).
summary:
The Apostle Paul summarized it very well in his letter to the church at
Ephesus. “And
so I insist—and God backs me up on this—that there be no going along with the
crowd, the empty-headed, mindless crowd.
They’ve refused for so long to deal with God that they’ve lost touch not
only with God but with reality itself.
They can’t think straight anymore. Feeling no pain, they let themselves
go in sexual obsession, addicted to every sort of perversion. But that’s no life
for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful
attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in
Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the
excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that
old way of life has to go. It’s rotten
through and through. Get rid of it! And
then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed
from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately
reproduces his character in you” (Ephesians 4:17-24, The Message).
~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW
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