Title: Be Good for Goodness' Sake/ Topic: Purity

Today's Reading: 1 Peter 1; 1 Peter 2; 1 Peter 3; 1 Peter 4; 1 Peter 5

Scripture: 1 Peter 2:11-12
11 Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

Observation: There are two related messages that I see here. 1) Indulging in sin may give me some temporary pleasure but it creates a war within me that will make it harder for me to do the good that I really want to do. Sin weakens my will so that I accomplish less in life, struggle with intimacy with God, and find it easy to make moral compromises that will cause non-believers to mock my faith. 2) Even if I live a blameless life, non-believers will not necessarily glorify God because of my good deeds until God's return, when they will no longer be able to deny the truth.

Application: Weighing the benefits of sin against the benefits of restraining sensual indulgence in favor of living a holy life makes the choices I face daily come into clear focus. The pleasure of indulging in immediate gratification is not worth the guilt, shame, lack of ability to hear God's voice and experience his power, lack of living a productive life, and spiritual hardness that come when I disobey God's guidelines for living. Doing good because it's the right thing to do is the way to go. Pleasing God leads to happiness; pleasing people never does in the long run.

Prayer: Father, I want to be strong in living a disciplined life which ultimately brings the peace, love and joy that I want and need. Help me to put to death the desires of my sinful nature, which seeks to enslave me, and to embrace the spiritual disciplines that bring true freedom and happiness in the end.
This I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.