War

As a society, we're pretty averse to war, and I guess that's a good thing - we do, after all, follow the Prince of Peace. But I wonder sometimes if we just don't want the sacrifice and hard work that is necessary to fight. I have thought frequently over the past decade that we don't have enough willpower and discipline to sustain a war.

I thought that again this morning, when I read this from 1 Peter 2:11-12: "Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us."

Usually this verse makes me think about being alien, but this morning the word "war" leaped out at me. War is more than just a fight, it's a sustained, focused effort that will involve multiple battles, with a lot of preparation and resources put into them. War is serious business, and defending yourself in time of war takes as much diligence and sacrifice as attacking.

In this case, I need diligence against sinful desires, because through them Satan makes war on my soul. I think the business about being aliens is just to remind me that what seems good in this world isn't good for me, because I don't really belong here.

I like to live as though I were a native, though. I want to belong here; truth is, I'm not in any hurry to get back home.

Maybe that's why it's easy to be casual about sin. Sometimes it doesn't seem like a big deal if I do it once; it seems likely there will be many days between now and Judgment Day, a lot of chances to get it right. And sometimes it seems like such a minor sin: one bad word, or one little tidbit of gossip, or one gluttonous meal, or one extra drink. I don't often think of sin as mortal danger.

But it is. I'm in a war, and if I don't want to lose I have to stay safe inside the defenses. Because that's what sin does: it lures me outside the wire, where I'm vulnerable. God is a mighty fortress, one Satan can't come close to threatening. His only viable strategy is deceit. If he can get me to think it's safe out there, and lure me away from God, he knows I'll be easy meat.

Peter's strategy is the opposite. He says I should live such a good life (which means completely resisting sin's temptation) that the pagans, the ones Satan thinks he already owns, can see what a great God I have. If I do this, I'll win some of them over, a victory for God and a defeat for the devil.

Chosen

1 Peter 2:9-10: "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."

These verses make me uncomfortable. Being chosen is usually good, like being picked for the team. But that implies something of worth that I would bring, a reason that I was chosen. In this case, I know there is no more value to me than in the person God didn't choose, so that makes it feel random, like a great spiritual lottery. That isn't right either, because God doesn't do random. So there was a reason for choosing me that really has nothing to do with anything I bring to the table. It's confusing and doesn't seem fair.

Since I don't understand the how, maybe it's best to look at the why: So that I can praise God.

After all, if he picks me because of my rugged good looks or ability to do one-armed push-ups, then I can brag about myself. Since He chose me even though there's not a single thing I can do that He needs, all that's left is to tell people," Wow! Can you believe it? He just came along, lifted me out of the mud, cleaned me up and gave me new clothes, and took me home with Him. I still can't figure out why, dirty and smelly as I was."

God took me from darkness into light. My response shouldn't be to obsess over the fairness of it, or to look for something in me that makes me a good choice. Just like I tell everyone about the great deal I got on my last purchase, or about the incredibly lucky thing that happened to me, I should be eager to tell the world about God and what He has done for me.

Destined

1 Peter 2:6-8 says "For in Scripture it says: 'See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.' Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,' and, 'A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.' They stumble because they disobey the message–which is also what they were destined for."

Peter was talking about building us into a spiritual house, and now he adds Jesus as the cornerstone. But things stop feeling good pretty quickly. For those who trust, this is good. For those who disobey, this is the rock that will trip them up.

The chilling part is that Peter says disobedience is what these people were destined for. This was God's plan - remember, "Jacob have I loved, and Esau I hated." Some were created to show God's mercy, others to show His judgment.

I don't like thinking about this. For one thing, it doesn't seem fair (although the only really fair thing would be to destroy us all.) For another, I disobey. When you take into account what I think and not just what I do, it feels like I disobey a lot. Just because I try not to make it the pattern for my life, that doesn't seem enough to justify my election vs. someone else's damnation.

Election is one of those things where I just have to trust God. Give me half a reason from scripture and I'd like to become a universalist - I'd like everyone to end up in Heaven. But scripture doesn't support that, and Peter doesn't either.

In the end, I'm grateful that to me the cornerstone is precious, because I know I didn't put myself in that group. By grace, God did.

Built up

No deep thoughts today, just some pleasurable reflection on God's providence.

1 Peter 2:4-5 is only tangentially about providence. "As you come to him, the living Stone –rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him– you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

My gratitude for providence relates to two things.

First, I'm being built up, not building myself up. I'm grateful that this work, so important to me, doesn't have to be done by someone as weak as me.

Second, the building involves fitting me into the group. Peter uses the analogy of a house, with each stone fit into place, and also of a holy priesthood. I relate a little better to the second example, because it makes me think of a group of like-minded people joined together in a common purpose - kind of like an Army unit. I'm grateful that I'm not expected to do the work alone, but that I am a part of something bigger than me.

I also like the work: offering spiritual sacrifices. Sacrifices of time, of money, of love . . . all my work is really an offering. And if i bring my best offering, God will accept it because Jesus will make up the difference between what I do and perfection.

That's why I'm thinking about providence: God takes this Mission Impossible of renewing Greg into something useful and acceptable, and makes it doable by joining me with the saints, and with Jesus Himself. The simple act of coming to Jesus results in me being built up.

Tasting

Peter writes in 1Peter 2:2-3, "Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good."

Any parent is going to relate to this. We've all gone through the process of getting a three-year-old to try something new. "Taste it!" we urge. But if it has sauce, or is green, or looks different in any way, or even just sounds different (my grandson loves pork chops but refused pork roast), it can take a lot of coercion to get them to stick it in their mouths the first time.

Kids are that way because they have to decide to trust mom over their own lack of experience, and because they want to go for the sure thing, something they know is good because they've had it before. Moms are usually right because they know and love their children. The result: once the child tries it, they like it. Often they crave it.

That's what Peter is saying. "Now that you're given God a try and found out how good He is, crave that spiritual nourishment that you need to grow." As infant believers, we need milk, but even adults should drink milk along with the more complex foods they eat. What a shame if we were ever to lose our love for the basic goodness of God,

The word "crave" is an interesting choice here - it's an extreme word. People lost in the desert crave water. Addicts crave drugs. That word suggests an all-consuming need; nothing matters as much to a person with a craving as finding satisfaction for it. Is that how we are with God? It would be nice to think so, but sometimes there are so many choices on the buffet line that the attraction to God isn't that overwhelming.

Crave, Peter says, so that you can grow. Lay off the junk food and eat right.

To don't

1 Peter 2:1 is one of those great live-like-this lists, although this one is really a not-to-do list. Peter says, "Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind." The "therefore" refers to what he says in chapter one about our salvation. Because of God's grace, Peter says, I need to clean house, throw out some stuff I won't need anymore.

Malice - that's wanting bad things to happen to others. No more hoping that opposing player gets knocked out of the game. Or that a rival embarrasses herself in front of the world.

Deceit - misleading others about what you do or think. Don't lie, don't imply. Instead, open up a window to that inner room of secrets and let everyone see. Tell the truth about what I did and why. Admit things. Let the sun shine in and kill the mold. Of course, living so I don't want to lie about it is the bigger challenge.

Hypocrisy - that's pretending I'm better than I am. The trick is, I get so good at going along with expectations, it's hard to know when I'm being a hypocrite. The difference probably is in whether or not I'm trying to impress anyone.

Envy - that's being jealous when something good happens to someone else. Paul often pairs it with malice (see above) to describe how we relate to others outside of grace - there's an example early in Titus 3. I should rejoice in the good fortune of others; our God has an abundance of blessings, enough for all.

Slander - saying bad things about people. Peter adds "of all kinds" so I can't infer, or just pass on what someone else told me. We're supposed to build people up, not tear them down.

Think of the potential impact on my relationships: just being myself, totally transparent, harming no one and rejoicing with everyone. Looks like I have a lot to don't today.

Purified

When Peter talks about us purifying ourselves by obeying (1Peter 1:22 "Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart."), I feel uncomfortable. I've been taught to avoid any semblance of works-based salvation, so I get uneasy whenever anyone says I can do part of it myself. Jesus purified me; the Holy Spirit continues to purify me. But me myself?

But I have to admit that I can make myself impure through disobedience. I've done that experiment often enough to have validated the theory. So doesn't it follow that I should be able to do the opposite?

I guess to the extent I am able to obey, I become more pure. That I don't obey more is a mark of my own weakness. When I do obey, it's because I rely completely on God.

That may be what Peter is getting at. The act of obedience comes from complete reliance on God. That's the only way I can do it. And it results in a better understanding of God's will. It results in a strengthened ability to obey, to do God's will.

Maybe that's what being purified really is. And maybe the part that I do is to rely fully on God, since that's the only way I can truly be obedient.