Assuming things that were totally false

 

1 Peter 2:2-3

To be the very best husband, wife, neighbor, plumber, homebuilder, salesperson, teacher, or professional ball player, it requires training, preparation, guidance, and the trainee needs to seek out the best of trainers.  My pastor, Ray Still, spoke to this subject and his focus was on the need of an “Editor” for our life.  Now Ray was focused on dads and moms, and on living the Christian life.  This was my take from a message that was preached some weeks back, “An editor is always looking at the script of your life, with one goal, to enhance, to add strength and worth, to develop desirable qualities.  Often after meeting with the “Editor,” your life looks much like my writing after Jan has edited it and made corrections, red marks all over the paper.  It seems as if she finds pleasure in doing so, and often I dread the many mistakes she finds.  So I’ve worked at writing, it does not come easy, it requires time and study and still Jan’s red pencil seems to find much to correct.  I’ve learned that Jan, as my editor, has one goal; to make what I’ve written look better, she has an investment in my writing, and she cares that the end product is the very best.

Why do so few Christians have as their goal to be the very best?  Could it be that many started the Christian life assuming things that were totally false?  Things like, “God helps those who help themselves,” or church attendance is all God requires of me, and the rest of the week He expects me to navigate on my own.  And some of us have bought into this falsehood; that if I read my Bible each day and I mean read a lot, like in Proverbs, Psalm, New and Old Testaments at least one chapter in each, then you are ready for what the world will throw at you.  Some even add to this one or more Bible studies, but if that becomes a requirement, and if the Scriptures do not simulate your mind and heart, it often turns into a legalistic act.

Peter speaks very clearly in 1 Peter 2:2-3 on letting God make you the best you can be, that His plan for you has always been a life of victory.  “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you will grow up to salvation – if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”  What an amazing comparison, a baby’s desire for milk and growing up mighty in the kingdom of God.  A baby’s desire is for milk, the richer the better, it seems as if that is all they think about, and they often will cry for it.  Peter is saying that should be our desire as a Christian.  Peter goes on to state, what any good editor on life would point out; – if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”  If you find yourself with no interest in the Bible, or the things of God, is it because you have not tasted that the Lord is good?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice