1 Peter
3:1-4:6 - The world is
preoccupied with outward appearances. As Christians, we should be more
concerned with our inward attitude. ‘In your hearts reverence Christ as
Lord’. Pray for His ‘attitude’ - ‘a tender heart and a humble mind’
(8,15; 4:1). We believe the Gospel - ‘Christ died for our sins once for
all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God’. Let’s share
the Gospel - ‘Be always ready to give...a reason for the hope that is
in you’. How are we to share the Gospel? - ‘with gentleness and respect’
(18,15). We must get the attitude right - ‘so that nothing will hinder
our prayers’ (7). We need more than the ‘right’ prayers - words that
sound good. We need the right attitude. The blessing will not come
because our words sound good. It will only come when our attitude is
right.
4:7-5:14 - In all the service we offer to God, there
is to be the offering of worship: ‘To Him be the glory and the power
for ever and ever’ (4:11; 5:11). We will not learn to serve God unless
we are learning to worship Him. There is a ‘form of religion’ which
‘denies the power’ of God - ‘These people honour Me with their lips, but
their hearts are far from Me’ (2 Timothy 3:5; Matthew 15:8). They go through the motions - but their hearts are not in it! We must pray
that
God will deliver us from this kind of thing: ‘O for a heart to praise
my God! A heart from sin set free; A heart that always feels Thy blood,
so freely shed for me’ (Church Hymnary, 85). ‘Religion’ is about
respectability. Salvation is about renewal: ‘Create in me a clean heart,
O God, and put a new and right spirit within me’ (Psalm 51:10).
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