Today’s Reading:
1 Peter 4:1-6
“Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm your selves likewise with the same mind: for he, that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;” (v. 1, AKJV)
In today’s reading, two facts stand clear:
1. Christ died for our sins once and for all (The “Just” – Christ- died for the “Unjust”- we Sinners), in order that Christ might bring us sinners to God (1Peter 3:18-22). Jesus suffered as a man for our sins. His example and selfless attitude should motivate us to arm ourselves with the same attitude (v. 1). Peter spoke of the example of Jesus patience and submissiveness under unjust treatment. He exhorts us to arm ourselves with the same mind as Christ had regarding unjust punishment. Our Lord’s attitude towards unjust suffering is found in the words: “For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well-doing than for evil doing”- (1 Peter 3:17, KJV). The motivation for holiness comes from the sufferings of Christ (1 Pet 3:18) and His imminent return to judge all people (v. 5). Christ’s suffering and death on the cross paid for our sins and His resurrection gave us new life in Him.
2. Christ ‘endured the cross, despising the shame for the joy that was set before Him (Hebrews 12:2). This same attitude of sacrificing self and enduring patiently will equip us as believers to resist sinful temptations. Jesus tasted suffering, pain, and death. He knew from the beginning that his path led surely to death on the cross. He had been born to die for our sins and thereafter mock, ridicule and shame death by exercising His power of resurrection. This is the work that Jesus came to do on earth.
The first time Jesus hinted of His imminent death on the cross, the disciples were stunned. Indeed, Peter rebuked the Lord for entertaining any such thought. But Peter was roundly rebuked by the Lord Himself (Matthew 16: 21-25). The big lesson for us as believers in the example of Jesus is that we must be resolutely determined that no matter the extent of any suffering, we will never turn aside from our Lord. We as believers have been spiritually circumcised by Christ who has given us a new heart. Jesus Christ dealt sin a death blow for us when He suffered for our sake and died on the cross.
As believers, we are now dead to the power of sin and now free from its power to control us. Sure, we still sin, but now we make the conscious choice to sin. We now need to make the conscious choice to cease sin. Sin is destructive, deceptive and decay-producing. Therefore, because our Saviour suffered unjustly in our place and as our substitute, we ought to hate sin, for it was our sin that took our Lord Jesus to the cross.
BABALOLA IKOTUN
Prayer:
Lord helps me to shake off all the sins I have been struggling with silently, in the name of Jesus.
Father, give me the strength to defeat sins that easily begets, in the name of Jesus.
Father Lord, in any moment I am tempted to sin, give me the wisdom and perspective to see the sin as you see it, and not do the sin my heart longs to do, in Jesus’s name.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, for rescuing me and saving me from my sinfulness in Jesus’s name I pray. Amen.
Father, grant true repentance to the body of Christ; and revive Your Church, in Jesus name.
Arise, Lord, and let the wickedness of the wicked programmed to trouble this nation expires, in Jesus name.
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