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"Therefore . . ." by Hollie Ruthberg
1 Peter 4:1 Therefore, since the Messiah suffered physically, you too are to arm yourselves with the same attitude. For whoever has suffered physically is finished with sin, 2 with the result that he lives the rest of his earthly life no longer controlled by human desires, but by God’s will. 3 For you have spent enough time already living the way the pagans want you to live — in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, wild parties and forbidden idol-worship. 4 They think it strange that you don’t plunge with them into the same flood of dissoluteness, and so they heap insults on you. 5 But they will have to give an account to him who stands ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 This is why he was proclaimed to those who have died; it was so that, although physically they would receive the judgment common to all humanity, they might live by the Spirit in the way that God has provided.
7 The accomplishing of the goal of all things is close at hand. Therefore, keep alert and self-controlled, so that you can pray. 8 More than anything, keep loving each other actively; because love covers many sins.[1 Peter 4:8 Proverbs 10:12] 9 Welcome one another into your homes without grumbling. 10 As each one has received some spiritual gift, he should use it to serve others, like good managers of God’s many-sided grace — 11 if someone speaks, let him speak God’s words; if someone serves, let him do so out of strength that God supplies; so that in everything God may be glorified through Yeshua the Messiah — to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.
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Geometry is one of the subjects that either makes you fall in love with math or never want to think of it again. It is either an awakening to the wonderful logic of theorems and proofs–almost the fun of doing a puzzle–or it is baffling and incomprehensible. In working out proofs, the word “therefore” is key. If one thing is true, then another is true, and at the end of a list of facts proven in that way, the word “therefore” indicates that what is now shown is the absolute truth, the inevitable result.
When a verse begins with the word “therefore,” it is important to know what came before. In 1 Peter 4:1, the apostle says that because Jesus suffered, was nailed to the cross, died for our sins, and was ultimately raised from the dead so that we might be saved, we “therefore” need to adopt Jesus’ attitude and be “done with sin.” When this attitude is set within us, it will protect us and “arm” us, helping us face what people around us may say, no matter what may come at us. We can say, "Therefore, never again."
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Hymn for Today: "May the Mind of Christ My Savior" by Kate B. Wilkinson
1. May the mind of Christ, my Savior,
live in me from day to day,
by his love and power controlling
all I do and say.
2. May the word of God dwell richly
in my heart from hour to hour,
so that all may see I triumph
only through his power.
3. May the peace of God, my Father,
rule my life in everything,
that I may be calm to comfort
sick and sorrowing.
4. May the love of Jesus fill me
as the waters fill the sea.
Him exalting, self abasing:
this is victory.
5. May we run the race before us,
strong and brave to face the foe,
looking only unto Jesus
as we onward go.
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Thought for Today: Romans 8:5 For those who identify with their old nature set their minds on the things of the old nature, but those who identify with the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.-------
Please Pray: That many people in the Netherlands will come to know Yeshua the Messiah and receive the fullness of the Ruach HaKodesh.
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