Living in the Shadow of His Hand

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

 

“you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” – 1 Peter 2:5

There’s a mistaken identity among many Christians that we have somehow arrived at a place of goodness.  We’ve overcome sin through the blood of Jesus Christ.  His saving grace has allowed us to overcome death and have eternal life.  But…brace yourself for this…we’re not perfect.  We’re still under construction individually and as a whole in the body of Christ.  And, we have been since Christianity began.

We sometimes look around at our brothers and sisters in Christ and the traps they allow themselves to fall into for long periods of their lives and wonder “how could they do that?”  We sometimes even question their salvation and the genuineness of their faith.  Then there are those momentary lapses into our carnal being that occur just in the nick of time for someone to see us fail.  It’s a cuss word, an angry tone, a temper tantrum, or something that makes the eyebrows of the bystander raise in questions of whether we’re as close to Christ as we should be, or whether we’ve backslidden into our old ways.  We begin to see each other as sanctimonious actors, and fakes.

Then there’s the self-incrimination we place upon ourselves out of disgust at our actions.  How could be fall back into that trap that Jesus delivered us from?  Will we never learn?  We begin to doubt our own salvation.  We hear the voice of satan whispering in our ears “you’re not good enough to be a Christian.  A Christian wouldn’t do that.”  Be careful how long you listen to a liar.  The longer you listen the more time they have to convince you that their lies are truth.

Maybe before we go handing out ridicule and judgments on our Christian brothers and sisters, we should read what 1 Peter 2:5 says: “you also, as living stones, are being BUILT UP a spiritual house, a holy priesthood”.  We are under construction, and we will be under construction until the new priesthood of Heaven convenes.  The only good in us is that which God sees: the saving blood of Jesus Christ that covers our sins.  And if that’s good enough for God, shouldn’t it be good enough for each other? 

Allow each other the grace that God has given you freely. 

We all fail from time to time.  It’s what you do with it that matters. 

We all are judged from time to time.  It’s whether you believe it that matters.

People will talk about you from time to time.  It’s easy to live up to their expectations when they set them so low.  Get back up, and strive to be who God says you are.

The true definition of failure is falling and refusing to get back up.

“And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” – 1 Peter 4:8