1 Peter 1:22-2:12
Our blessed Father has given us mercy and grace, life, and an inheritance. He has called us to live out our faith in holiness, knowing that we will face judgement and knowing he has already rescued us from that judgement, declaring us righteous when we chose faith in Jesus Christ.
We are no longer strangers to God, children of wrath, or those without a name. We are no longer slaves to sin and death, but are free. By faith in Jesus Christ, we become beloved children of God, carrying his name and his inheritance.
So then what do we do?
We love (1:22). Just as our God loves us, we love God and we love others. To love is to obey (Jn. 14:23) and, in loving we imitate our God who is love (1 Jn. 4:8).
Our obedience to the Lord leads to purity, never to sin. In our purity, we love each other in humble brotherly love, without expectation of gain or return. We love each other earnestly, sincerely, with great effort and priority. We love because of God’s great grace to us, and we give this grace to others.
This is holy living. In a right relationship with God, understanding who he is and what he has done for us, wanting to please him and be like him, we respond accordingly in pursuing holiness, rejecting sin and choosing obedience. Therefore, we seek to love others well, with pure hearts (1:22). As they experience our love, this helps them understand who our God is and, in turn, grow in their desire for him.
We love in the light of eternity, knowing we have been born again (1:23) in and through our eternal, never fading, never to perish Jesus Christ (1:25). This is what we are built upon, a sure foundation and an eternal hope. As we grow in obedience, we grow in holiness as we reject sin. We grow in love. We are not the old anymore; the old has gone and the new has come. This is permanent; we won’t go back but are new forever, born of the imperishable seed (1:23).
So we slough off what we used to be and step into newness of life in Christ. Here there is no room for malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy or slander (2:1). We put away what harms others, because this is not love. Love seeks the good of others.
And how do we do this? If we seek to love by our own conviction, strength and power, sin will win. Instead, we must look to the Lord. We must long for spiritual milk (2:1), the living and abiding Word of the Lord (1:23) in which we find what is good, pure, true and holy. In feeding on what is good for us, like a newborn baby on milk, we grow up in our salvation (2:2). We learn to live holy and we grow in looking more like our Lord.
If we have tasted that the Lord is good (2:3), we have tasted with delight and we desire more. And if we don’t desire that spiritual milk, what have we filled up on instead? Like a child full of sweets who doesn’t desire more food, but whose body isn’t actually satisfied, we fill up on what is not good, not beneficial, not best. Come back to what satisfies. Come back to our Lord.
He is good, so good.
Lord, give us desire for you. Quicken our hearts for the one who loves us best. Whet our longing for the Word that gives life. Convict us so that we feed on you. Fill us up with you until we are bursting with contentment, and so what comes out of us is you, your holiness and your love. Amen.
