Below I included an example of part of the schoolwork I do for the School of Biblical Studies. This is my Final Application for 1 Peter.
My final timeless truth for 1 Peter is: “Christians are to be holy.” This comes from 1 Peter 1:15, which says, “but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.” My significance to the contemporary reader is: “Journal: How can I reflect who God is in this world (that is meaning, set apart)?” I know I can never attain perfection, not sinning, in this life. I’ve struggled with perfectionism most of my life, but boy, is it being worked on in the last year before SBS and currently! But God calls me to be holy. Though, number one, I need to remember that I am holy, set apart by God, because of God’s gift of grace. I am made righteous! I am like Him. I think the hard part comes in really believing that and learning how to live that in this present world.
I think the person who has most impacted me in my pursuit to live out this question is really not a person at all but a fictional character in a book! Hadassah was a Christian Jew living 2,000 years ago at the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. She was sold into slavery and bought to serve a Roman household in Rome. For a long time she thought herself weak in comparison to her father who gave his life for the sake of the gospel and as she believed she failed as a witness for Christ to her Roman masters. But Hadassah was not weak at all. Through all the things mentioned in the letter of 1 Peter she demonstrated true servanthood to Christ and to the family she served, a character of humility and submission, and a pursuit of holiness. After much time, perseverance, and suffering, she was a witness of Christ to them.
I know I am not as meek, kind, or compassionate as Hadassah and certainly not patient, but I am a bit more fiery, opinionated, and abrupt, but I am challenged in a good way. If God can use an imagined character to speak to me and inspire my life (and other people’s too), how much more can He shape my character and my testimony after Himself? I am chosen by God and “His own possession” that I “may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called [me] out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9). (The “Marvelous Light” song by Charlie Hall should really begin playing in the background right about now.)
What am I going to do now in response to my question, “How can I reflect God now?” It’s not in an attempt of “doing things” that I reflect God, but I seek to reflect Him. So I desire to spend time with my Father, to know Him deeper and more intimately, to see His heart for others, and to respond to His heart.
*If you are interested in the character Hadassah who I described above, I recommend for anyone to read the Mark of the Lion trilogy, A Voice in the Wind, Echo in the Darkness, and As Sure as the Dawn, by Francine Rivers. They would be valuable for anyone interested in being impacted and challenged in their own Christian walk and/or in the history of the New Testament and early Christianity during the Roman Empire. Click here to read more about Francine Rivers' books: http://francinerivers.com/
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