Sunday 13 Oct 2013

Sunday Reading: 1 Peter 3:10-12

Key Verse: 1 Peter 3:11
11 Let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it.

Devotion:
If there is some way in which we can extend our lives or get better when sick, then we seek those ways and try to apply them to our lives; after all, who would not want to live a bit longer and enjoy life a bit more. But what about our spiritual lives as well? Do we not want to be able to get the most out of our spiritual lives and to live a better spiritual life too?

If we continue on in the ways of the world we will find that our spiritual lives continue to be eroded and broken down as we follow the worldly ways. It is our consciences which gnaw at our spirits as The Holy Spirit tries to guide us away from the sin and toward righteousness. That constant gnawing at our spirits wears us down on the inside.

One of our easiest traps to fall into is that of letting loose with our mouths! When we get a little wound up or someone says something horrible to us it is very easy just to retaliate with a few words back instead of biding our time. It is so much easier to ‘warn’ them off with a few choice words of our own. But if we stop to think for a second we would realise that those words or actions that have just come our way are the things that have hurt us. Why should we then use the same weapons against someone else? Why should we be able to get away with it if we don’t want others to?

God is Just. That means He always upholds the law. If we turn round and do exactly the same as someone has just done for us then we are opening ourselves to the same condemnation as they have just done – how can we expect to be treated any different if God is just? But stopping what comes out of our mouths is a hard task when we are surrounded by so much. The right way is not to try and stop our mouths after we open ourselves to evil but to get away from that evil in the first place. Don’t go there if you know that your spirit will be constantly worn down. That does not mean that we have to ignore all bad situations in our lives because we still have to reach out to our neighbours, even when they act like our enemies! But don’t hang around with them and expect that you will get away with not being tempted yourself!

Points to Ponder:
Do you retaliate with choice words?

Are you walking God’s path?