1 Peter 5:8

Your enemy, the devil, is stalking around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

What I heard from Jesus while meditating on this verse was this:

“Are you hungrier for Me than the devil is for you?”

1 Peter 4:12-13

Beloved, don’t be surprised at the fiery ordeal which is coming upon you to test you, as though this were some strange thing that was happening to you.

Rather, celebrate! You are sharing the sufferings of the Messiah. Then, when his glory is revealed, you will celebrate with real, exuberant joy.

Everything molds you into me.

There is no “fail”, only, “Did you listen?”

One of my favorite scenes from Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi is when Yoda tells Luke,

“The greatest teacher, failure is.”

Failure is only really failure if we fail to learn from it and make adjustments.

But if we use it to be better, and help others, it is the greatest of instructors.

Yoda was also telling Luke that we are to pass on what we have learned—strength, mastery—yes. But also weakness, folly, and failure. Failure most of all. Because it is such an effective teacher. To ourselves, and also to others.

Growing up, my friend Joe and I always said we wanted to learn from others’ mistakes as much as we can, so that we don’t unnecessarily repeat what we see leads to darkness. We’ll make plenty of our own mistakes, why make others’?

Learn from others’ failure, yes, but also teach others from yours.

Jesus can use every single little thing in your life—good, bad, painful, joyful, traumatic—to mold you into His image and make you into Him.

That is called theosis.

1 Peter 3:9

Don’t repay evil for evil, or slander for slander, but rather say a blessing. This is what you were called to, so that you may inherit a blessing.

May I hear and listen to only that which is outside my own head, so that I may be a greater blessing to others.

This is a pure form of listening—listening to that which lies outside my own thoughts.

Difficult, but not impossible.

Listen in order to actually learn what you don’t already know.

Or think you know.

1Peter 3:12

For the Lord’s eyes are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer, But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

I’m only as good as I am filled with the Spirit, connected to the Vine.

In other words, the more filled and connected, the better I am. And vice versa—the less filled with Spirt and the more disconnected, the worse I am, not living into my full God-given potential.

1 Peter 3:15

Sanctify the Messiah as Lord in your hearts….

No other gods.

Nothing else, no one else, deserves as much as attention as You, my Lord!

Attention in the form of time, thoughts, money, work….Love.

May we give Christ, deserving of all because He gave all, way more attention than, say, politics, or people we don’t particularly like.

1 Peter 2:11

My beloved ones, I beg you—strangers and resident aliens as you are—to hold back from the fleshly desires that wage war against your true lives.

See fleshly desires for what they really are—war wagers.

1 Peter 2:16

Live as free people (though don’t use your freedom as a veil to hide evil!), but as slaves to God.

Being a slave to God is the ultimate freedom.

For God “demands” so little, when you think about it.

And what God desires is very, very good…for you…for the world.

Stay close.

1 Peter 1:6-7

Yes, it mat well be necessary that, for a while, you may have to suffer trials and tests of all sorts.

But this is so that the true value of your faith may be discovered.

A couple months back I practiced lectio divina through 1 Peter, which is a meditative form of reading consisting these four parts:

Reading, meditation, prayer, contemplation.

If you’d like to read more about this practice, you may do so here.

So I thought I’d share some of what I heard as I went through 1 Peter in this manner. And I will say that this is the way I read Scripture most all of the time now because of how deeply it is allowed to sink in to my heart, as opposed to gathering more information for head knowledge.

OK, here we go…

To know the true taste of your faith, and experience its nourishment, you may have to drink the cup of suffering–of trials and tests.

To see something, whatever obstructs its view must be cast aside.

The idol of comfort is burned away in the fires of purification. Comfort sedates, anesthetizes. Purgation enlivens, sharpens focus, molds us into the Son.

James 5:11

When people endure, we call them “blessed by God.” Well, you have heard of the endurance of Job; and you saw the Lord’s ultimate purpose. The Lord is deeply compassionate and kindly.

Some of the best yet strangest advice I ever received came from a pastor of mine about twenty-five years ago.

He said that when you’re going through a trial or suffering, the first thing you need to do is thank God for it.

What?

My initial thought was the words of the great Rocky Balboa: “You’re mentally irregular.”

But it is mentally irregular, isn’t it? Yet it is proper, and upon reflection, the only real sane response to suffering. Trials can always work to build our endurance and character. We may not always allow it to do so, but it is the way patience and character are forged. It just is.

As followers of Christ, our thoughts on suffering needs must change at some stage. It is not just pointless pain. I like how C.S. Lewis said that pain is God’s megaphone. It is, isn’t it? If we can muster the focus to listen for a minute.

(Now to be clear, I do not pretend for two nanoseconds to know the why of each suffering instance, if God inflicts it, allows it, commissions the satan to carry it out, if it’s a natural consequence…but we do know that we are called to endurance in Scripture, to perseverance, and that we inevitably will have trouble in this world as Jesus told us straightforwardly. And that trials can/do produce these qualities in us quite effectively.)

So I believe our thoughts toward suffering need to transform.

First, when suffering or trials arise, immediately thank God for the trial. Sounds crazy, but I can’t tell you how much better of a mindset it has put me in when I force myself to do this.

Second, keep in mind that God has an ultimate purpose. Again, you don’t need to understand it all, or fret over your theology with regard to what is happening. Simply keep before you that God has ultimate purposes for earth, humanity, for you, and that these purposes are good and nothing will thwart them.

Third, never stop believing that the Lord is deeply compassionate and kindly, no matter what. The devil tries hard to persuade us the think the opposite. And if we think everything should always go our way, we can fall to that evil thinking rather quickly.

You don’t naturally connect the story of Job with God’s compassion and kindliness, but as we are conformed to the image of Christ, as our thinking is molded into God’s thinking, we are able to make that connection, accept what is before us, and be thankful that our endurance is being strengthened.

James 4:4 & 8a

Adulterers! Don’t you know that to be friends with the world means being enemies with God? So anyone who wants to be friends with the world is setting themselves up as God’s enemy.

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

I always love a verse that starts out with “Adulterers!” It’s like, “Listen up!!!” I’m gonna start using this when I really want to get someone’s attention…probably not at home so much.

One aspect of this message which speaks to me is how the world asks (demands?) so much of you, way more than one person can handle, but God asks really just one thing.

The world instructs you to look like this, have a perfect house, stay young no matter what, make sure your kids do what makes you proud, do nothing embarrassing, sound smart, live here, show no weakness, drive this car, have this phone, read all these posts, care about these causes, and on and on and on.

Exhausting.

Not to mention, stupid.

But God, in God’s gentle, peaceful way, asks just one thing. For what really matters. Simply to draw near to him.

“Only one thing matters”, Jesus told Martha (Lk 10:42).

Be with me.

“Abide in me” Jesus told his disciples, and asks still of us today.

I looked up that Greek word for abide the other day, and found many wonderful explications of its meaning—to lodge as someone’s guest, to remain, to stay, spend time, remain in someone’s company, spend the night.

Jesus asks one not-so-confusing thing of us, knowing that everything else will then be as it needs to be, for it will be seen and done through the lens of abiding in Christ’s Presence.

The world on the other hand, asks so much of us, demands to keep up with such an insane volume of meaninglessness, that there is simply no room left over for God. Then we’re “forced” to try to squeeze God in where we can make him fit.

I love Michael Casey’s thoughts on this: “We don’t find time to pray, we make time to pray.”

If we’re going to draw near to God, some things have to go. That’s just how it works. We can’t do it all, there’s literally not enough time or energy.

As the old comedian Steven Wright said, “You can’t have everything. Where would you put it?”

James 3:1-12

All of us make many mistakes, after all. If anyone makes no mistakes in what they say, such a person is a fully complete human being, capable of keeping firm control over the whole body as well.

This morning as I was reflecting over James 3, I started to feel like I was in a bit of a rut, approaching Scripture and writing in the same manner that I have for a while now.

So I stopped, and prayed, waiting to move forward, listening for insight. Then the Spirit reminded me of a suggestion I came across a few months back of writing a prayer based on the passage you’ve just read.

Great idea!

This can encapsulate a particular reading into a collect which you may return to later to relive your experience with that passage.

If you’re also interested in this approach to change things up a bit, you might use the traditional model  for a liturgical prayer known as a collect which has three main elements:

[Address to God]

i    Theme from the text (often refers to the past),

ii   Petition drawn from the text (often refers to the present),

iii Development of the petition (often refers to the future),

      [Conclusion]

Here’s the prayer I wrote this morning based on this familiar passage about the potential immense wreckage that can be caused by such a small part of the human body—the tongue:

O God of comforting speech,

Forgive me for hurting so many, especially those close to me whom I love dearly, with the thoughtless words that escape my mouth.

Purify my lips, and purge my speech, so that my words may be few and full, only what is edifying and necessary.

May everything I say be bathed in thought and Spirit before it is uttered, giving others encouragement and You glory.

I ask this in the kind name of Jesus and Your empowering Spirit.

James 2:1

My brothers and sisters, as you practice the faith of our Lord Jesus, the anointed king of glory, you must do so without favoritism.

The heart that allows Jesus to reign within it shows no favoritism because it sees people not as our worldly culture sees people—assigning value based on monetary earning, status and power in government or business, intellectual prowess, influence with others, success in ministry, impressive talents, physical beauty—but rather as God sees them, having value and worth because of who they are, made in God’s image, worth dying for, no matter what external qualities they may or may not possess.

The heart after God’s own heart does not see through the lens of “What can you do for me?” because that heart already has everything it needs in Christ. Bribe me all you want, I have all I need.

The freedom of needing only Christ to be satisfied grants the clearest of vision to see people for who they are, and look beyond the exterior into the qualities of life that really matter—kindness, love for God, love for people, a gentle spirit, a non-judgmental attitude…the qualities we receive from Christ and can cultivate as we move ever closer toward the age to come, in which those qualities will be eternally necessary and fruitful.

It seems those other things that the world is so enthralled with now won’t be of as much use in the new heavens and new earth.