March 5 CRAVE WHAT BENEFITS YOU MOST:
Gospel Story: Washing of the disciples feet John 13:1-18 “you don’t understand…”
From 1 Peter 2:1-3
So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. 2 Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, 3 now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.
Reflection:
The apostle Paul encourages lovers of Jesus to live in world like Jesus did (Phil2:5). “Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ”. (phil 1:27).
Peter echoes this idea when he refers to those who have experienced the love of God and been made “new”! Our connection with Jesus, he tells us, literally and figuratively, makes us “foreigners, refugees, resident aliens” in a world quite unlike heaven.
All of us, “born again” folk (reread 1 Peter 1 in TPT) have to learn how to appropriate this invitation. To live as “citizens of heaven” we need to familiar ourselves with where we come from!….HEAVEN! In Christ you are “born from above” (JN3:4) It’s why Paul also encourages us in the letter to Colossians saying,
Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God… Colossians 3:1-3
How do we do this????? !!!!!CRAVE JESUS!!!!!! Pursue, receive, long for, crave, what Jesus has to give. Yes Jesus invites us to “Learn from me…” (matt 11:29). You want to live as a citizen of heaven, crave Jesus more than anything else!!! He knows what it is to live like a citizen of heaven… “for I have come down from heaven to the will of God who sent me….” Peter learned this lesson time and time again as he walked with Jesus. Ponder John 13:1-18 this month. See how Peter got a taste of heaven doing life with Jesus on earth. How do we live a citizens of have, crave what benefits us most->Jesus. Peter knew this with all his heart
You can hear this truth when Peter reminds us in1 Peter 2:1-3 “to get rid of all evil behaviour”. Peter is in sync with Paul. We get to live “in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ”, like “citizens of heaven”—“aliens in the neighbourhood”. YES we get to “go outside the camp”(Hebrews 13) and live from that place where Jesus revealed the love of God to the world. He did what a true citizen of Heaven gets to do!!!! You get to, too!! How? CRAVE WHAT BENEFITS YOU MOST! CRAVE JESUS!