Don't Slip Back

So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” - 1 Peter 1:13-16

Following Jesus must move us to change. When we accept Him as our Lord, we go through a process we call repentance. When we repent we commit to a change. As we place our identity in Jesus, we declare a significant change in us and our lives. We are turning away from our old way of thinking and doing things. We are turning to God, His ways, and the gift of mercy He freely gives us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Peter encourages us to acknowledge and embrace this change. He challenges us to continue to turn from our personal desires and seek the desires of God. He wants us to embrace the father/son relationship and use it as a model for our new way of living. Just like a small child looks up to their father as a model of how to do things, God invites us into the same relationship with Him.

When we accept Jesus as Lord, we are adopted as children of God.  Peter encourages us to seek to be holy simply because our Heavenly Father is holy. So, he appeals for us to choose a pursuit of holiness and in this way be set apart from the world around us. We do this when we turn from our own desires and exercise self-control. We do this when we prepare our minds for God’s action, not our own.

In what ways do you slip back into your old ways? How can you pursue holiness instead of your own desires?

Be blessed and be a blessing,
Matt