Devotion 11/22, Free to be Servants of God

It is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. 1 Peter 2:15-16

God’s will is that His children should live holy, blameless lives before the world. By doing so, the unfounded charges that the world brings against us, may be considered foolishness! Our actions speak much louder than our words ever can. Nothing does more harm to the name of Christ than when an individual claims to be a Christian, yet lives a life that in most of their outward appearances is far from God and more like that of the world.
Christians and the Christian faith are constantly bombarded by the ignorance of foolish people. It may be in a university classroom, it may be in a science lab, or it may even be from the pulpit! Peter says that one of the best answers to such blasting of believers is to live holy, blameless, and God pleasing lives. Then when they go to speak or act against us, they will look ignorant for having done so.
A child of God should never act in a lawless manner, using our freedom to do evil. Sinful disobedience should never be justified by some false spiritual excuse.
A good example of this is those who claim to be Christians yet go around bombing abortion clinics, killing the workers that work there and even some of the patients. Acting as judge, jury, and executioner is wrong. Romans 12:19 tells us to not take revenge, but to let God do the avenging of wrong, and in verse 21 of this same chapter in Romans the Word of God says, “Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.”

We are free in Jesus, but being free means that we don’t have to pretentiously prove we are free. Instead, we can live for him who died to conquer death and renounced absolute heavenly freedom so we could find it. We are free to serve others, and most of all to serve God.

Lord, you have freed me from sin, law, and death at the cost of your precious Son. I open my heart to you today to say I love you. I and want to thank you for this gift of incredible redemption. Please accept the actions of my life and the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my mind and the emotions of my heart today as my offering of thanks. In the name of Jesus, my Sacrifice and your holy Son, I pray. Amen.

Lord, everyday I seem to drift, lose my way. I lose my focus on you by the distractions of satan. Though only briefly, I am ashamed. Thank you for your forgiveness and your Holy Spirit that keeps bringing me back to You, Your grace, mercy and love. I pray for laser focus on You and that I live my life solely for you. And Lord, in all circumstances, I pray that Your will be done for Your will is always best. Cleanse my heart. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.