Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Setting Apart Christ as Lord - Sounds Hard !

I awoke about a week ago early in the morning with 1 Peter 3:15 on the forefront of my mind. I have spent the last week pondering and debating with God the 2 main thoughts Peter wrote about in this verse and in the context of Chapter 3 of 1 Peter.

What I have come away with is this: The sufferings of this world are best responded to by us when we can "set apart" or "honor" Christ as Lord and our response to the world is an answer of hope.

We are to be such hopeful people that it literally flows out of us. According to this verse, hope is to be such a part of who we are that it is very recognizable by the world around us. What about you ? You got the hope of Christ flowing out of you ?

It is the gospel of Jesus Christ that gives us our initial foundation of hope, He is the root; it is our growth toward maturity and into the likeness of Christ as we "set" Him apart that gives bloom and blossom to the hope that is rooted in Him alone.

Another thought on this verse, if we as a people could get to the place where the honor and glory of Christ really did come first, would we still argue and complain about the things we argue and complain over today ??

It is simple to do but not easy to live out. But it is commanded of us and is therefore possible.

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