3/21/2021 - 1 Peter 2:1-3 [NIV]

 3/21/2021

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. 1 Peter 2:1-3 [NIV]

- Who is in charge? Humans have always been and always will be at war. Every human relationship is subject to the issues of power and control: marriage, family, career, society… even the individual can struggle with internal destructive conflicts.

- When we enter into a battle of wills through deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander, and other kinds of power plays, we become trapped by our own hands. The truth is, no one is ever really in control. It is the illusion that makes fallen angels a spiritual impossibility with no way to return. Hell is Love’s only solution for those who cannot impose their wills on the Kingdom of Heaven and who will not submit to the will of God, who is love, peace, joy, and every spiritual quality that is Real. Those who end up in hell can say, “I win… I am finally free from God”. Those who refuse to submit to their loved ones or others end up in their own prison of isolation, shriveled and trapped in their own hell of imaginary victory.

- Our redemption from corruption and war begins with a Savior who completely submitted himself to the powers of this world and died a horrible death to free us from our fallen nature*. The Word who created every thing in existence entered into the world he had created for the single purpose of saving us from our rebellion against God and all others in our life. This was God’s answer to what began in heaven with the fall of angels and continued on earth with the fall of the human race beginning with Adam and Eve. Submission.

* None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Corinthians 2:8 [NIV]

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