Stretching

1 Peter 2

   ¹ 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.

The passage goes on to talk about those who reject God and says...

  

   8They stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them.

   ⁹ But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests,^[f] a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

 ¹⁰ “Once you had no identity as a people;
      now you are God’s people.
   Once you received no mercy;
      now you have received God’s mercy.”^[g]

¹¹ Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. ¹² Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.^[h]

^{Can I ask a question? How are we as a 'chosen people' separating ourselves from the world?  How is my life, my words, my actions showing others the goodness of God?} 

^{The past couple of weeks have been a time of stretching for me. God has been opening my eyes to more pain and hurt than I have ever experienced. It has been rough to say the least and some days I haven't handled it properly. I have seen brother speak against brother, friend taunt friend and believer despise the unbeliever. And during this time of revelation I have become discouraged and disheartened, but I press on knowing that he who has started a good work in me is faithful to finish it.} 

^{That being said during this stretching time I have been more aware of how flippantly we take our roles as the children of God!! I find most days that my actions don't usually have the right motives behind them. My words carry hurt, bitterness, anger and a host of other things that definitely don't separate me from the world. And the choices I make, even on a daily basis grieve the heart of God. I cannot count how often I am sure I do.}   

^{But as God molds and shapes me and matures me in my faith I have realized how little time I have left. How limited and fleeting my life is and how the desire of my heart is to show the glory of God in my life. How words, actions and choices not only affect myself but those around me. How my words, actions and choices point either towards or away from God.} 

^{In Phillipians 3 Paul writes about claiming Christ's righteousness as his own. He writes about how this righteousness is only attained through faith in Jesus Christ and how he too wants to experience the power, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He goes on to say this...}

¹² I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. ¹³ No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it,^[d] but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

He then goes on to tell us of those who live only for this earth...
 18For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹ They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth.

I pray during the duration of my life that I think of things eternal. I pray my actions, words and choices reflect that of my eternal goal and not things of this world!