Your New Life
Posted Thu, 03/03/2011 - 1:00am by Central Minnesota
For you have spent enough time in the past
doing what pagans choose to do --
living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness,
orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.
They think it strange that you do not plunge with them
into the same flood of dissipation,
and they heap abuse on you.
1 Peter 4:3-4
My Dear Child,
The pagans, as I'm sure you have noticed, are all around you, and the thing I want you to know is that they are also watching you. You may not think so, but they are. Since you have become a committed believer, they continue in their lifestyle, but they find you a curiosity at times. They see all the things that you have given up, the things that they still partake in. They don't understand why you would choose to make the radical changes in your lifestyle. They don't know where you could possibly find enjoyment now.
But here is something for you to think about. Do they only see what you have given up, or do they see the enjoyment and joy you receive from what you have taken up? Do they hear you giving thanks for my daily provisions, the peace and joy you have in times of uncertainty?
You see, all the things they enjoy have bitterness associated with them: hangovers, disease, broken homes, legal problems, and more. But the well that you drink from is refreshing and has no bitter aftertaste. You have been set free from the chains of bondage to sin and can now walk in freedom. Is that the image that you are portraying?
Yes, the pagans are watching you and listening to every word from your mouth. So in listening to your speech, are they hearing you expressing more of the glass-half-empty mentality, or the glass-half-full? Are you simply talking about what you no longer do, or are you expressing the benefits and delights of your new life? Listen to yourself today and take note.
Your Father Who Delights in You,
God