SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
4/3/2012 9:52:07 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Commit yourself to God
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
1Peter 4:19
Message
of the verse: “19 Therefore, those also who suffer according to
the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what
is right.” (NASB-95)
Commit
Yourself to God (1Peter 4:19): “19 So if you are suffering in a manner that
pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who
created you, for he will never fail you.”
(NLT) “19 Therefore these who suffer according to God’s
will can safely commit their souls to their faithful Creator, and go on doing
all the good they can.” (Philips) 19 For
this reason let those who by the purpose of God undergo punishment, keep on in
well-doing and put their souls into the safe hands of their Maker.” (BBE)
“19 Therefore let those who
suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while
doing good.” (ESV)
In the Philips paraphrase version of
the Bible, which is seen above, the word “commit” is used, while the NASB says
“entrust” and so does the ESV. This word
can be used as a banking term where one puts their funds into a bank and
receives interest for those funds. In
the same way we as believers when we suffer for the cause of Christ can put
ourselves into God’s bank and we will always receive eternal dividends on our
investment.
In the US we have the FDIC that is
suppose to bring us great comfort when we deposit our funds into a US bank, for
if the bank goes under the funds are insured.
However when we belong to God who loves us, who has purchased us, and
who lives in us and promised to one day take us to heaven we can totally put
our faith and trust in Him, and we can commit our lives to Him even though we
suffer for the cause of Christ, for we know that God is faithful.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “this commitment
is not a single action but a constant attitude.
‘Be constantly committing’ is the force of the admonition. How do we do this? ‘By means of welldoing.’ As we return good
for evil and do good even though we suffer for it, we are committing ourselves
to God so that He can care for us. This
commitment involves every area of our lives and every hour of our lives.”
It may sound strange to some that
Peter calls God “a faithful Creator” and not a faithful Judge, which of course
He is. Peter knew that it was the
Creator who provided food and clothing to those persecuted Christians, and it was
the faithful Creator who protects them in times of danger.
Dr. Wiersbe finishes his commentary
with the following paragraph: “Before God
pours out His wrath on this evil world, a ‘fiery trial’ will come to God’s
church, to unite and purify it, that it might be a strong witness to the lost. There is nothing for us to fear if we are
suffering in the will of God. Our
faithful Father-Creator will victoriously see us through!”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: When Paul
wrote to the believers in Philippi he told them in verse 4:11b that he had
learned to be content and we can see from his second letter to the Corinthian
church in chapter eleven that it was through persecution that he had learned to
be content. This is what Peter is
telling his readers who were about to go through some difficult persecutions
because it would be about a year after his readers received this letter that
Rome would burn and Nero would blame it on the Christians and so the
persecution would begin and it would be very difficult. There is a story in the 32nd chapter
of Jeremiah which helps us to understand how our faith should not waver even
when persecution comes. Jeremiah was in
prison and the Babylonians were attacking Jerusalem, about to destroy it, when
his cousin comes to sell him a piece of property and because it was of the Lord
Jeremiah bought the property because God told him that the children of Israel
would return and build houses once again.
It took faith to do this and it takes great faith to endure persecution,
but God is in control and one day He will judge all who have caused the
troubles in the world.
4/3/2012
3:24:05 PM
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