Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and 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)
As older and more experienced golfers, we often forget the joy we experienced when we first made a good shot. The wonder that was ours when we actually got the ball off the ground for the first time. Little did we know what the future was going to be like. The easy part was falling in love with the game.
The hard part was realizing that nothing short of our sincere intention and hard work would allow us to continue to experience this joy. We would never be successful in golf without further action. How successful we became would come from a combination of faith in the process and hard work.
We have come to trust in Jesus to save us. We have believed, just as Peter declared, that Jesus is the Son of God. So now what? Is that it? Are we done and safe to live our lives any way we choose? Peter wrote today’s scripture verses years after He declared Jesus as the Messiah.
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Salvation is not the end but truly just the beginning of an eternal relationship with God. It is our destiny to be changed so fully and completely that we will be a true reflection of our Creator.
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Peter knew there were other things that would occur in our life beyond our initial trust in Jesus; obedience to Jesus over the long journey of life would be required. God is not finished with us just because we trust in Jesus. That trust will save us for eternity, but God has even deeper purposes for all of us.
According to Peter, we all start out as babies needing pure spiritual milk to help us to grow up in our walk with Jesus. We must ask God to help us rid ourselves of the sin that plagues all of us. We are to kick out malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander which are, sadly, found in every one of us. Our capacity to sin does not leave us just because we have been saved by God’s grace.
Salvation is not the end but truly just the beginning of an eternal relationship with God. It is our destiny to be changed so fully and completely that we will be a true reflection of our Creator.
That transformation will happen as we continue to trust in God’s sovereign actions in our life even when we don’t understand what is going on. He does that work in us, but we must yield to him in ongoing obedience in order to grow. Quite literally, we are called to trust and obey for there is no other way to please the One who has redeemed us from sin.
He has done the one thing we could never accomplish on our own. He has saved us from ourselves, and He wants no less from us than our trust in His goodness and our obedience to His plan for us.
What comes after salvation? In summary, we live a life of change and a growing awareness of his purposes brought about by our obedience to Him. We will never experience the wonder of what it is to know Him in ever increasing ways unless we give up the claim on our life and yield to the changes he intends to work in our lives. We have tasted that the Lord is good. Can we trust Him to finish the job?