The Necklace of God (1 Peter 1:3-5)

Mercy, Hope, Inheritance, God's Power, Faith, and Salvation are the words used by Peter at the beginning of his letter to the churches in Asia Minor. He uses these words and is drawn to worship because of them. He treats these words like a quarry and draws his listeners to begin mining from the riches of God that he has lavished on us. I am encouraged greatly by the words of Spurgeon who reflected on the great mines of 1 Peter 1:3-5:

In these three verses we have a string of pearls, a necklace of diamonds, a cabinet of jewels—no, the comparisons are poor—we have something far better than all the riches of the earth can ever typify. You have here the heritage of the chosen of God. Your heritage, Beloved, your own peculiar portion if you belong to Christ this day. ~ Charles Spurgeon

Wrestling with God

I have read so many stories lately about random acts of violence. I am not really sure if there is an increase in random acts of violence or the news agencies are just reporting it more. There definitely is a communal rise in tension and stress. The impact emotionally, physically, and spiritually is revealing itself more and more as this recession/ depression continues forward. Even if you are not directly impacted it is demoralizing to watch your country fail financially and then in turn watch your family and friends suffer.

I have been thinking about Jacob wrestling with God in the desert. This confrontation between man and God epitomizes the battle that we all have to engage in with God at one point or another. In our relationships with one another we can begin the process of knowing each other, but we can never be fully known except by God. He is the only one who can offer us the gift of being truly known in all aspects of who we are as a person. All other relationships are a mere exercise in the pursuit of being known by the one.

Furthermore, God is the only one who knows what we are suppose to look like. We are built in his likeness, yet sin has corrupted us from attaining this standard. So we need to look into the word of God, to understand how he built us, so we can move down the path of conforming to his likeness each day.

I am trying to loose some weight for a triathlon and I have hit a wall. I went to a site on wrestling to understand a bit of the mind of a wrestler in his process of loosing weight (I know this is not a good idea, but...). I read one site that said, "DON'T EAT SUGAR, SUGAR HAS NOTHING GOOD FOR YOUR BODY." I laughed and then followed. I have already noticed a difference after two weeks, but here is the point...

The only thing good for us is striving towards the wrestling match with God. Money, possessions, family, success, or any of the other of the millions of distractions that face us each day has no replacement for the wrestling with God. This recession shows us sadness towards an idol that we have lost, we can't make it on our own prosperity forever, everything has a course. The only eternal gift we have is our relationship with Jesus and our wrestling match with him needs to continue today.

The Bible, Not What it Seems.

I had a Bible study recently and one of the guys shared with us that he is reading through the Bible and is currently in the Old Testament. He has heard a lot about the guys in the Old Testament, but never has gone through the stories one after another. He was dismayed at how bad they really were, he thought they were all suppose to be Godly men who didn't do wrong things.

It led to an awesome conversation about the nature of man and how the Bible is displaying how God can use typical men and women for his glory. There really is nobody on display in the Bible who should be exalted all that much except for God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Everyone else fails at one one point or another which is so real. We can identify with anyone in the Bible because they are just like us, a bunch of people wanting to please God, but at the same time being overcome by our pride, selfishness, and lack of ability to understand all the God is trying to do.

I appreciate the guys in my Bible study, because they remind me of what the Bible is all about.