Skip to main content

Connect the Testaments: A Daily Devotional





July 15

Re-frame It

1 Peter 2:1–12; Psalm 128:1–129:8


“ ‘Too often they have attacked me from my youth.’ Let Israel say, ‘Too often they have attacked me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me’ ” (Psa 129:1–2). As these verses show, sometimes problems can be solved by simply re-framing the issue at hand.
Peter makes a “re-framing” move in his first letter. He could have focused on the people’s sin and their general need to repent, but then their attention would be on the problem, not solving it. So he shifts the focus: “Therefore, ridding yourselves of all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn infants long for the unadulterated spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up to salvation” (1 Pet 2:1–2). Peter calls them to approach their relationship with Christ like a newborn would milk. They must make Christ such a priority that He becomes something they need and long for. And as they long, their sinful behavior will be resolved.
Similarly, Peter addresses the people’s conflict with their culture as an opportunity for God to make them strong, like the stones used to build strong foundations: “And you yourselves, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet 2:5).
We can always choose where to place our attention. Often, we turn our attention toward preventing something (sin) at the cost of actually doing something good (growing in the Lord). If we keep our focus on our relationship with Christ, we can rise above our circumstances and find victory. “The blessing of Yahweh be upon you. We bless you in the name of Yahweh” (Psa 129:8). Re-framing our lives makes way for blessing—it gives God room to do trans-formative work.

What is God asking you to reframe? Where is your focus?

 JOHN D. BARRY


John D. Barry and Rebecca Kruyswijk, Connect the Testaments: A Daily Devotional (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2012).

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Furnishings of the Tabernacle

Furnishings of the Tabernacle . ‎The book of Exodus details the construction of the tabernacle and its furnishings. As Yahweh’s sanctuary, the tabernacle served as God’s dwelling place among the Israelites—the expression of the covenant between Yahweh and His people ( Exod 25:8–9 ).
Post a Comment
Read more

A Threshing Floor

A Threshing Floor In the ancient world, farmers used threshing floors to separate grain from its inedible husk (chaff) by beating it with a flail or walking animals on it—sometimes while towing a threshing sledge. Sledges were fitted with flint teeth to dehusk the grain more quickly. Other workers would turn the grain over so that it would be evenly threshed by the sledge.
Post a Comment
Read more

Modern Mount Calvary

Modern Mount Calvary ‎Great authorities are marshaled in favor of both claimants—the church within and the mound without the walls. For a long time, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was the only traditional spot pointed out as the place of burial. But with the growing influence of the Grotto of Jeremiah, the modern Mount Calvary, a picture of which we give, increased in favor. This whole discussion as to the place where Christ was crucified, and as to the tomb in which His body was placed, turns upon the direction which the walls about Jerusalem took at the time of the crucifixion. If the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was outside the wall at that time, as Dean Stanley thinks it might have been, the chances in favor of its being the place of crucifixion and burial are increased. If, however, the site of this church was inside the wall at that time it is sure that the place of burial and crucifixion was not there, for Christ was crucified outside of the walls of Jerusalem. And ...
Post a Comment
Read more