DON'T SLIP NOW: THE RESULTS ARE DISASTROUS

Don't Slip Now; The Results Are Disastrous 

“Think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the special blessings that will come to you at the return of Jesus Christ…Don’t slip back into your old ways of doing evil…Now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God-who chose you to be his children-is holy.” - 1 Peter 1:13-15 NLB 

One of the greatest needs in a Christian's life is to be able to think clearly and exercise self-control.  The apostle Peter was very much aware of this need. Read the verse of Scripture again and notice the important points. What I would like to do is to take the important points in reverse order making some comments on each of them as I do so. 

1.   ”Now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God-who chose you to be his children-is holy.” We are to be holy in everything we do because God has chosen us to be a part of his family. We are his children. He is holy and we should be like Him. We must try to live totally committed to the cause of Christ. The word holy means to be "set aside;" set aside for the work God desires for us to do. To answer the call of God we must be willing to crucify ourselves, our old self, the flesh, and be born again by the Spirit of God. Once we are born again we become a new creation in Christ Jesus, the old has passed away, and the new has come. We no longer possess a sin nature but now possess a spirit nature; a nature like that of Jesus Christ. We have been born again, forgiven and redeemed in order to serve God. We must willingly set our new lives, our spirit regenerated lives, apart to serve the Lord. This is how we fulfill our call to holiness. We are to be holy in everything we do because God has called us and chosen us to be holy. 

2.   “Don’t slip back into your old ways of doing evil.” Pay attention to this admonition. We are not to slip back into our old way of living (doing evil). Notice how going back to the old ways of doing evil is described as slipping back. Normally when a believer back slides they do so gradually. They don't wake up one morning and decide to go back into the evil and ungodly way in which they used to live. It's a gradual process. They accommodate a sinful desire that in the beginning doesn't appear to be very important or dangerous. Nothing happens. It's not long before they are accommodating more and more sinful behavior; sinful behavior of their own and the sinful behavior of others. Then before you realize what has happened you find yourself living a full-blown ungodly, worldly lifestyle and any thoughts of holiness are not even considered. Peter knew well that we have to be very observant of what is going on around us and in the power of the Holy Spirit fight to keep every evil behavior at bay. 

     Followers of Christ are not to compromise with evil in any way, form nor fashion. If we do we open the door to more and more evil and before we know it we are back living in a way that is worse than it was before coming to faith. 

3.   “Look forward to the special blessings that will come to you at the return of Jesus Christ.” One of the ways  we can guard against slipping back into sin is by looking forward. We look forward to the special blessings that will be ours when Jesus Christ returns. Special blessings are ours whether we are alive at His return, whether we meet him in the air at the rapture, or if we have already died. There will always be special blessings awaiting those who have been faithful in serving our Lord; special blessings of living in his presence now and for eternity; the blessing of being instantaneously transported into the presence of God at death; the blessing of knowing that Jesus has prepared a place for you and when it comes your time to leave this earth, he will come and take you to be with him so you can be where he is. Blessings on top of blessings; blessings too numerous to list or to fully understand; blessings beyond our wildest dreams, blessings experienced while here on this earth that make us hunger for the fulfillment of all of the promised blessings that are ours in Christ. 

     Don’t minimize the importance of these two disciplines: “thinking clearly and exercising self-control.” When we do these two things consistently we will witness the “keeping power” of the Holy Spirits and more fully experience an intimate and growing holy relationship with our Lord and Savior. The assurance of our salvation is ours not because we have said certain words or submitted to certain rites or belong to a certain denomination but because we belong to Christ and are accepted and deeply loved by God. As his child we are bearing fruit for the kingdom of God.   

     If you have been struggling in your faith lately and feel you are drifting away from God ask yourself these two very important questions, “am I thinking clearly and am I exercising self-control?” If the first thing that comes to your mind is no, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what you need to be do in order to get back into sweet fellowship with Christ. Once the Holy Spirit reveals to you what needs to be done there is only one response for you to make; confess and repent. Don’t argue with the Holy Spirit. Agree to everything the he leads you to do and then allow God to restore you to the faith from which you have slipped. 

     Praise God for His faithfulness in keeping His promises and doing what He says He will do if we do what He says we are to do. We serve a great and awesome God. david