Week 12, Day 1: The Roaring Lion

Today’s Reading:  2 Peter 2:1-3:18

Some thoughts from Friday’s reading…

One of the most vivid descriptions of Satan is found in 1 Peter 5:8.  Peter tells us that the Devil is “walking around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”  This is one of those passages that you need to close your eyes and picture what the author is describing.  Satan is like a lion, on the hunt.  He is roaring, trying to frighten his prey into freezing so that he can pounce on him.  If he can get us to just give up our defenses, he will be in the prime position to jump on us, and get us to sin.

When we think of lions, we should think about their characteristics.  The lion is vicious.  It is domineering.  There is a reason that the lion is called the “king of the jungle.”  He is not going to be timid in his attacks.  Lions also work relentlessly to down prey.  They will track herds until they are close enough to pounce.  They will also use their surroundings to hide themselves from their prey.

We can see Satan’s tactics in these characteristics.  Satan will be vicious in his attacks upon us.  he is not going to give up, and he is not going to give in.  We can be sure that he will be trying to attack us for as long as we live on this earth.  This is perhaps why Peter’s epistles are so filled with warnings for us to remain faithful, even in times of tribulation and temptation.  Satan will use our surroundings to cause us to stumble.  He will use everything that he can to tempt us.  He knows what will tempt each one of us, and he uses it masterfully.  We have to truly be strong in the faith to be able to avoid “the wiles of the Devil!”

But, even lions can be defeated.  I recently read a book entitled “The Man Eaters of Tsavo”, which was about lions that attacked railroad worker camps in Africa.  The lions grew in fame and infamey by killing many people.  However, eventually, the lions were defeated by the persistence and skill of the engineer who was responsible for getting the railroad bridge at Tsavo built.  The same thing is true for us today.  If we are persistent and skillful in our faith, we will defeat our lion, the Devil, as well!

Week 11, Day 5: Give a Defense!

Today’s Reading:  1 Peter 5:1-2 Peter 1:21

Some thoughts from yesterday’s reading…

We often quote 1 Peter 3:15, and talk about the need to be ready to give a defense for the things that we believe.  That is, I believe a good use of the verse, but it does not get to the heart of what Peter was warning of in the context.  You have probably noticed that much of what Peter writes about has to do with bearing up under tribulation.  This passage is no different.  Peter is writing about those who would suffer for the sake of  righteousness.  He was writing to people who were being “strong armed” by others who were trying to keep them from preaching the gospel message.  Peter’s message in these verses does not have to do so much with having the intellectual skills to defend your beliefs (that is, understanding what you believe, and why you believe it) as much as it has to do with courage!

These Christians were going to need courage to defend their beliefs, knowing that they were going to suffer persecution for them.  Peter was encouraging them to stand strong, and not back down, even if bad things were going to happen to them.  This should certainly make us stop and think about our own willingness to give a defense.  Often, we use the “excuse” that we don’t know enough to give a defense for our beliefs to others around us.  How often is it really that we lack the courage that it takes to take a stand for what is right?  It doesn’t take a lot of knowledge to express to our co-workers or friends why we aren’t going to participate in their sinful activities.  But, it takes a whole lot of courage to stand up to them when they are trying to get us to do something that we know that we shouldn’t!

We need to be ready (with knowledge) to give a defense, but we also must have the courage that is necessary to stand up against evil and teach truth.  That is not going to be an easy thing to do in most cases.  If we are armed with the right message, we should have faith and confidence in Christ to allow us to do the hard thing, and teach the truth.  So what if we are ridiculed, persecuted, or even (in the extreme case) killed?  We must be ready to give a defense of what we believe.  That is what we see in the example of Stephen.  He knew what was going to happen to him, and he still had the courage to preach the gospel.  We should follow his example!

Week 11, Day 4: The Nature of Our Inheritance

Today’s Reading:  1 Peter 3:1-4:19

Some thoughts from yesterday’s reading…

In 1 Peter chapter 1, Peter discusses the blessings of the eternal inheritance that we have, which is provided through Jesus Christ.  He uses several words to describe the inheritance that we have in Christ, all of which should give us great hope as we struggle with the things of this life.  Consider the inheritance that Peter discusses:

• Imperishable–There is nothing that can destroy this reward.  There is no one who is powerful enough to do away with it, or take it away from us.  We can have confidence that it will be there for us, when this life is over.
• Undefiled–This reward cannot be tarnished.  There is nothing wrong with it.  There is nothing evil about it.  God has provided the perfect inheritance!  We can be assured of the purity of the reward that God provides.
• Will not fade away–This inheritance will never be used up.  We will never have to worry about running out of the reward.  What God offers us, through Christ, is greater than anything that could be attained in this world.
• Reserved in heaven–God is taking care of our reward for us.  It is there waiting for us is we remain faithful through this life.  We don’t have to wonder if it is there, or not there.  God has provided it.  Christ has gone to prepare it.  We now have to do our part to attain it!
• Protected by the power of God–Peter tells us that we are protected by the power of God for this inheritance.  This is much like what Paul wrote in Romans 8:38-39.  Nothing can separate us from the love of God.  He is powerful enough to protect us for the inheritance.  This doesn’t mean that nothing bad will happen, or that physical harm will not come to us.  But, those things cannot separate us from our inheritance, if we remain steadfast to the end!

How can these not encourage us?  We can make comparisons to the failure of worldly rewards and inheritances, but in reality there is no comparison.  What God offers is far greater than the physical silver and gold that we can accrue here.

Peter tells us in this context (1 Peter 1:6) that we can indeed rejoice in the thought of what God has provided, even if we must suffer various trials for the time being.  Whatever we must go through here will be worth the reward offered by God in the next life.  And, we prove our faith and devotion by continuing to be faithful to God, no matter how bad the trials become (1 Peter 1:7).

EDIT: It was pointed out to me that I was careless in following the context of the passage above, in that it is the Christians who are protected, rather than the inheritance.  This is absolutely correct!  In my haste, I overlooked the small word “who” in verse 5, which changes the recipient of the protection from the inheritance to the Christians.  I am going to change the point above to reflect this!  Thanks to Chad for pointing this out to me, so that it is not incorrect!  This is a good example of how a small mistake in a context can change the meaning pretty drastically.