Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows . . .are here

Well, he’s not the only one. God knows. And, you know it, too – because you know yourself. That’s why the Bible tells Christians to flee from the worldly lusts that war against your souls.

Why?

Because we’re good at lying to ourselves. We’re good at making up stupid, idiotic and ridiculous excuses for our own actions. We know we have a problem, but we do nothing about it. We content ourselves with some impotent, feeble prayer for “strength,” but we’re not serious. How do we know this? Because we don’t take any concrete action that proves we’re serious. We’re often all talk.

If we were honest with ourselves, we’d identify sins we struggle with, and take steps to protect ourselves . . . from ourselves. We’d flee from the worldly lusts that are battling against our very souls. If you’re a Christian, you know what your problems are, and I bet you have some good ideas about some defensive measures you can take to protect yourself from temptation.

You know it. The Shadow knows it. God knows it. The Apostle Peter knows it.

The Apostle Peter wanted Christians to live holy lives. He begged them to do it, in the letter he wrote (1 Peter 2:11-12). He told them to always keep far away from worldly lusts. He said these lusts are warring against our souls. He said we had to do this because we’re foreigners and temporary residents here.

There’s a lot here, and it has nothing to do with the fake cultural “Christianity” that’s so common today. It has to do with real life, and your mission in that life every single day – if you’re a Christian.

There are a whole bunch of questions that spring to mind:

1. Why does Peter beg them to do this?
2. How should you “keep far away” from these lusts in your life, whatever they are?
3. What has changed in your life after salvation with regards to sin’s power and hold over you? What can you do now, that you couldn’t do before you became a follower of Christ?
4. What does Peter mean when he writes that these worldly lusts are “warring against your souls?” What impact could these lusts have on your individual mission, as a holy priest for God?
5. What does being a “foreigner and temporary resident” have to do with anything?

This past Sunday, we covered some of this and had a good discussion. The audio is below. The teaching notes for the passage are here. All audio and teaching notes for the 1 & 2 Peter series so far are here. Feel free to contact me with any questions, or to comment below.