Wayside Chapel Daily Devotional 4th November 2023

Wayside Chapel Daily Devotional 4th November 2023

December 4

1 Peter 2:5,9,11 5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

11Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.

Peter tells us what God is doing with our lives. He is making us into a spiritual house in which He can live by His Spirit. In this analogy he is not referring to us individually, but as a group. We should be interconnected to the work and ministry of others in the family of God. Like the priests of old, we minister to God by bringing sacrifices, but instead of animals, we bring sacrifices of praise for bringing us out of darkness and into His wonderful light. They are acceptable because they come through Jesus our Savior.

God is making us into a royal and holy priesthood. What He intended to do with Israel, He is now accomplishing in us. Israel could not be a priestly nation because they did not have the Holy Spirit within them. They could not see how much they needed God. The flesh can never accomplish the will of God.

Because we have this high and holy calling, we should not follow the example of ancient Israel that was ensnared by their sinful desires. As a nation they lost the war over their souls. As a nation let us live as aliens and strangers here, knowing that we are just passing through this world. Let us abstain from those sinful desires that would take us down the same road to ruin that Israel took.

Consider: Am I compromising with the enemy in any area of my life? As a stranger and alien here, how should I live?

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