The first chapter of the
letter from Peter the apostle ended with him comparing the “enduring”
“word of God” with the temporal state of “grass”
and “the flower thereof”. In chapter two and verse one of
his letter, Peter shares several “evil” ways the
“scattered” Christians were to “lay aside”
because of God's word where we read:
Wherefore laying aside
all malice, and all guile,
and hypocrisies, and
envies, and all evil speakings,
The
verse begins, “Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all
guile,...” Peter began with
the word, “Wherefore”
which means “then, therefore, accordingly, consequently and these
things being so” “laying aside”
or “to put off or away” “all malice”
which means “each, any, all, the whole and every ill-will,
desire to injure, depravity, naughtiness and trouble”, “and
all guile” or “each, any,
all, the whole and every craft or deceit”. Because the “enduring
word of God”, the “scattered”
Christians were to “put away”
every desire to injure, be naughty, be crafty or deceitful”.
The
verse goes on to say, “...and hypocrisies, and envies,
and all evil speakings,” Peter
continued, “and hypocrisies”
or “answers, acts of a stage player and dissimulation””, “and
envies” which means
“jealousies, detractions and ill-will”, “and all”
or “each, any, all, the whole and every”
“evil speakings”
or “defamation and backbiting”. In addition to “all”
“malice” and “guile”,
the “scattered”
Christians were to “put away” “acts” like “stage actors”,
“jealousies and ill-will, and “backbiting and defamation”.
When
we think through these words of Peter, we begin to see how we should
behave as Christians. Once we have received the Lord Jesus as our
Savior, we are to obey Him as Lord in our daily lives. Behavior such
as “malice, guile, hypocrisies, envies and evil
speakings” should not be a
part of our lives. Perhaps we should examine our attitudes and
behaviors in light of this verse, and should we find any of these
“evils” evident in
our lives, let us be aware, they affect our witness to others and our
relationship with Jesus.
Next
time Peter tells the “scattered”
Christians to “desire the sincere milk of
the word”, so read ahead, and we shall join
together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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