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Weekly Devotional ..................
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When in Rome...1 Peter 2:11-12 Dear brothers and sisters, you are foreigners and aliens here. So I warn you to keep away from evil desires because they fight against your very souls. Be careful how you live among your unbelieving neighbors. Even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will believe and give honor to God when he comes to judge the world. Most of us have heard the phrase, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”. It’s a nice little cliché that directs us to act like the natives and to mirror the culture of our current situation. However, this is not a Biblical statement! While we should be considerate of other’s cultural and personal backgrounds, we should not imitate them to the extent of falling into the sinful behaviors warned of here by Peter. But that begs the question, “How do we act in this world?” We obviously want to have behavior that leads people to Christ, not to wonder why His followers seem more like the world. Let’s first look at whom we shouldn’t mirror in our lives. Pharisees – Religious, over the top, pious, distrustful individuals. We see several times in the Scriptures where Jesus warned of the “leaven” of the Pharisees. Jesus saw through their empty works and endless tasks. Instead Jesus said to have a life and relationship that was abundant, overflowing. The World – With all the materialism, humanism, atheism, agnosticism, and other “isms”, this place called Earth is not a place for a Christian. That’s why Peter makes the comment that we are “Strangers or Foreigners” in this world. The world wants you to concentrate on yourself vs. others. I Corinthians 13 shows us how to love in the “agape” or giving sense, and you don’t see the love that the world offers in that beloved chapter. So we don’t mirror the world, and we don’t mirror the works based religionist ways of some that claim to be Christians. Who do we mirror? Jesus. Paul says in I Corinthians 11:1, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.” Later on the writer of Hebrews writes, “Do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” When we read the Word of God, we become more like the Word of God. When we pray to the Lord, we get to know Him more deeply, more richly. When we fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ, then we grow even quicker together! As the days progress, make it a point to grow as an “alien”. Not the ones that you see on the Sci-Fi channel, but “aliens” to this world. We’re just passing through, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be like the Romans. I want to be like Jesus! Because the more our coworkers, family, friends, neighbors see us acting like Jesus, the more that will believe! Think about it… |
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