“11. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 12. Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
Peter is addressing these believers as strangers and pilgrims. What does that exactly mean? Do you ever feel like a stranger or pilgrim in this world? If you are born again that is exactly how you should feel, like your living in a place that doesn’t feel like home. Do you feel like you have been growing as a Christian? The more you grow closer to Jesus Christ the more you should feel like you don’t belong here. The next four words of this verse is where our focus is today; “abstain from fleshly lusts.” What are people seeing in your life right now. As you complete this day or this week, will people notice you as a born again believer or a backslidden believer? Its sad to see the amount of Christians that show up on Sunday morning worship service, but yet look like a lost sinner the rest of the week. Many Christians are consumed in the fleshly lusts of this world rather than living for Jesus Christ. Sometimes people think lust is just a sinful desire for a man or woman, but lust is defined as longing desire; eagerness to posses or enjoy. Hunting and fishing can be a sinful lust just as much as anything else. Not that there is anything wrong with these things, but when it consumes your mind and your life it becomes unhealthy. Sometimes you watch hunting videos about killing that big buck and the narrator says, “Hunting is my life, I think about filling my buck tag 365 days a year.” You hear that type of language in many different hunting films. Could God really be happy with someone who is always desiring worldly satisfaction for happiness? So everyone at work knows you like to hunt, fish, play ball, or shoot photography. Do they know you love Jesus Christ? Our fleshly lusts make us look more like the world than Jesus Christ and people definitely notice! Stop being a Sunday morning Christian and “abstain from fleshly lusts”. The word abstain means to keep from. There are some lusts that are always sin such as fornication with someone that is not your spouse, drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, doing drugs, buying things you cant afford, but there are also things that become sinful lusts because it becomes excessive in your life. We don’t here much preaching on gluttony, but over eating or eating unhealthy foods could also be fleshly lusts. James 4:17 “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” God wants us to have a proper balance in our lives. Don’t let your fleshly lusts ruin your life! Only you know the things in your life right now that God is not happy with. Go back and read the main two verses again. When we live like a stranger and turn away form worldly satisfaction, people will notice! What are people seeing in you today? Are you glorifying God in your works? Are you abstaining from fleshly lusts?
Memory Verse Week 10/14/19
I Peter 2:11
“Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;”
