Do Not Be an Ingrate.

For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,  but the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you. – 1Pet. 1:24-25 NIV

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The scripture for today’s devotional are the closing verses of the first chapter of the first letter of Simon Peter the disciple. Having reminded the Christian about the reward that is awaiting him/her if he/she remains standing till the end, and also letting the Christian know that with the possession of the spiritual empowerment received through the Holy Spirit which is to enable the Christian withstand all trials and temptations , such is only left with the simple decision to remain standing as that remains the only remaining obstacle to receiving the reward when Jesus returns – 1Pet. 1:1-6. For the Christian that has such noble desires, he went ahead to suggest ways in which such can achieve the objective in the face of the trials and temptations that abound in the world –  1Pet. 1:7-17.

 

However, for the Christian that may still be sitting on the fence with regards to this decision, Simon Peter brings the attention of such to the following facts.

  1. The Christian was not redeemed with perishable things from the meaningless life handed down by his/ancestors – 1Pet. 1:18. There is no doubting the fact that all previous solutions ranging from the ones proffered pagans to even the Mosaic solutions to help man avoid the reward of sin, which is spiritual death, were at best temporary if not complete failure. They were simply unable to restore man to the Garden of Eden state. Ranging from all the idols and similar human carvings called gods to the shedding of animal blood, none was efficient in achieving this goal but the once and for all sacrifice of the Almighty God, using His only begotten son as the sacrificial lamb started and completed the process. It was this hugely unmerited favour that brought hope to mankind. Hope of unspeakable Joy in this world and in the world to come. There should therefore be no reason why the undecided Christian should still have a dilemma in choosing to remain standing till the end.
  2. The Christian was redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus Christ – 1Pet. 1:19-21. This blood that was shed by Jesus Christ was indeed precious. Precious in the sense that he was sinless. He volunteered to vacate his position of greatness and went through tremendous humiliation for an offence that he did not commit. The prophet Isaiah who was one of the prophets that Simon Peter had referred to earlier, said it all in the verses two to five of the fifty third chapter of the biblical book named after him – Isa. 53:2-5. That is what made that blood precious because just as the Apostle Paul said, it may not sound strange if someone decides to die for a non-sinner but what we have here is a someone deciding to take over the punishment of confirmed sinners – Rom. 5:7, 1Pet. 3:18. Only the ungrateful Christian will need to think twice before opting to remain loyal to him till the end. Yes! Only the ungrateful one.
  3. The Christian by obeying the truth is already purified – 1Pet. 1:22. Jesus Christ revealed to all that he is the truth. To obey the truth is to obey all that Jesus Christ has given as Instructions. It is the grace that he was made available through his blood that confers on the Christian the righteousness that he/she is laying claims to. This righteousness is what gives the confidence to live the life that such is living in this realm – a life of Grace and Truth. It makes all see the Christian as a pure person despite the fact that such never stopped sinning. All that such is enjoying is the advantage of the sin being covered by the blood. Devil fails in bringing such down and such lives a victorious life over all life challenges because he/she is able to lay claims to the conferred purity that the Grace brings. Why will such a person need to think twice before taking the decision to remain faithful during that period of trial if such is not simply ungrateful.
  4. The born again status of the Christian is a product of an imperishable seed which was accessed through the living and enduring Word of God – 1Pet. 1:23. All the celebrated victories over life challenges and all the achieved successes came through this Word of God which remains for ever settled in heaven. Although the Bible represents the Word in the physical, the true Word is he that was in the beginning with the Almighty God. His name is Jesus and it is this same Word that became flesh and shed his blood for the remission of sins. It is that same Word that is promising a reward of eternal salvation for all those who have a taken a decision to remain faithful till the end. It will always be wrong if all that will be done to repay his huge sacrifice to ensure that the Christian is restored into God’s plan is to reject him and disappoint him before the devil. Do not let him down and shame him before the devil. Honour him by remaining faithful till the end.
  5. Compared to the Word of God that lives forever, whatever glory a man may want to swap for this enduring legacy is very temporary and is not worth it. One even begins to wonder what it is that man intends to gain by making a choice of a temporary joy over an assured permanent joy. The richest man to live and will ever live said all these earthly attractions are vanity. We can also confirm that all the acquisition of man is not even enough to save him from death or even many challenges in this world. It therefore remains a wonder for anyone make a selection of temporary over permanent.

 

With the facts supplied by Simon Peter to support the need for the Christian to take the decision to remain standing despite the challenge he/she is facing, it will be expected that a wise Christian will choose to ignore all these temporary attractions that is called prosperity and with which the devil deceives all, leading them into perdition and decide to use the impacted ability received through the Holy Spirit to remain standing till the end. You can do it if you decide to resist the devil. The Bible says in resisting him, the devil will flee – Jms. 4:7. May the Almighty God grant us the courage to resist the devil so we can remain standing till the end in Jesus name. Amen.

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2 thoughts on “Do Not Be an Ingrate.

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