SPIRITUAL
DIARY
Date: 12-24-03
My Worship Time Focus:
Submit
for the Lord’s sake
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: 1Peter 2:13-15
Message
of the verses: “13 ¶ Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to
every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, 14 or to governors as sent by him for the
punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. 15 For
such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of
foolish men.” (NASB95) “13 ¶
For the Lord’s sake, accept all authority—the king as head of state,
14 and the officials he has appointed.
For the king has sent them to punish all who do wrong and to honor those who do
right. 15 It is God’s will that your good lives should
silence those who make foolish accusations against you.” (NLT)
In this section Peter is writing
about the responsibility of believers to submit to human government. The word submit is a military term which
means to line up under, and as believers we are to line up under the authority
of God. Peter says we are to do this for
the Lord’s sake, which I take to mean that we are to do this because we
represent the Lord here on earth. Peter
goes on to say that it is the Lord who has set up human government in order to
subdue evil, however this is not always the case, and there are times when
human government has laws that are in opposition to the laws of God and in that
case we are to obey God rather than man.
(See Acts 4:19; 5:29) We are also
to obey the laws of the land in order to hush the mouth of foolish men. (v-15)
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I will have to
admit that there have been times in my Christian life that I thought it was
right not to obey some of the laws of the land, and I know now that that was
wrong. The word submit is a hard thing
to follow at times, but my great example is the Lord Jesus Christ.
The
Word of God did bring conviction and challenges to my heart as I read it this
morning.
My Steps of
Faith Today: As I listened to
the message from Dr. Jeremiah this morning I have been convicted for the need
of have a devotional time with Sandy for a few minutes a day. This needs to happen as far as I am concerned
in order to advance in my walk with the Lord.
Memory
verse for the week: 1Corinthinans 10:13
13.
No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is
faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but
with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be
able to endure it.
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