So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. (1 Peter 2:1)
I find it interesting, when reading this passage, that Peter puts forth the image of newborn infants. When I see the command to put away (put off, renounce, throw away) these things - malice, deceit, hypocrisy, etc. - I think of two things:
1) An infant's clothing needs changing. Imagine if a mother neglected to change her baby's diaper, or change his sleeper after he threw up all over it. The baby would suffer. He would get rashes. He would be sore. All of these things, malice and slander and hypocrisy and everything else, all of these things are like a dirty diaper or soiled clothes. Peter tells us to change. To put these things away. They only hurt us.
2) An infant can't change his clothes by himself. Just as a baby needs help to dress himself, so we need the help of the Holy Spirit in dressing us in "the robes of Christ", in becoming Christlike, in putting off our old, soiled rags and putting on our new, rich garments.
Peter cautions us against what corrupts and defiles. He presents us with the "pure spiritual milk" of the gospel of Christ Jesus, the living stone, chosen and precious. Run to Him.
Well put. Reminds me of what grace truly is. A baby doesn't deserve to be changed....but a mothers love sees to her childs needs, and even though she knows baby is just going to puke again, she willingly works to keep her baby clean.
ReplyDeleteLove should be unconditional.
ReplyDeleteLove is unconditional. :) Christ loves us regardless of our mistakes, our inability, or our frailty.
DeleteConditions come within the development of the relationship, not within His love. It's a mistake to think that our actions either add to or take away from God's love for us. It's also a mistake to think we can act in any way and still have a relationship with God. God loves me; His love is clearly evidenced in Christ's death on the cross, His resurrection, and His promises, as well as my salvation. I, in turn, love God; the only outwardly visible way I can express that is through putting off what is displeasing to God.
Even in our own human relationships, we work with conditions, not (hopefully) out of being forced because of the possibility that we might lose someone's love, but precisely because we love them. For instance, if I love someone who dislikes loud music, I won't play it when I am around them. This is not a question of my being afraid they will love me less, because they wouldn't. I just know it is displeasing to them, so I avoid it for their sake.
God's love is so unconditional that He cleanses us through His own righteousness, not our own. He loves us while we are still His enemies. Christ died to prove that "there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus..."