1 Peter 2:1- 3 “Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
“HMMM! Peter, what are you up to? Why warn people to get rid of all this negative stuff? Aren’t you writing to Christians?” Well, yes, Peter was writing to Christians. By this point, Peter was probably in his sixties and had been a church leader for a long time. And it was out of this experience that Peter was writing these admonitions because Peter knew that his church members had lots of problems.
When I was growing up on an Illinois farm, we had a big Newfoundland dog named Ruffy, who LOVED to find the stinkiest stuff she could and then bring it to us as a present! Once a lady visitor had just bought a brand new spring coat and was coming to show it off when Ruffy pranced out to meet her, dragging something truly horrible along with her. We had to work quickly to protect our visitor from getting unspeakable stuff on her new coat! And Ruffy couldn’t understand why we weren’t happy to receive this new “treasure.”
God is a holy and pure God. When we first dedicate our lives to Christ, we are like Ruffy, prancing around and failing to understand the depths of our sin and how this must look to God. God in His infinite mercy and patience allows us to become aware of our sins. But as we grow as believers, we also need to examine ourselves and get rid of the garbage we have dragged from our old lives into our new ones.
Imagine, if you will, an international diplomat at a reception for a visiting president from another country. Everybody is dressed in their very best…and yet, this man has a huge bag of garbage sitting at his feet. The bag stinks and unspeakable stuff is leaking out on the parquetry floor of the reception hall. And when a security guard comes over to remove the bag of garbage, the diplomat argues that there is nothing wrong! Crazy, right? Nobody is going to behave like that! And yet, we all have our pet sins that we tolerate and excuse. Here Peter is telling us that it’s time to get rid of all our spiritual garbage, our malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander!
Each of us has a God – sized hole in our hearts that can only be satisfied by God Himself. But many of us try to fill that hole with “stuff, with causes, with slogans, with movements, with all kinds of things.” We are either becoming better or worse. And we develop a taste for those things on which we focus. Either we will concentrate on God and His Word and we will crave purity, holiness, and the Word of God, or we will crave something less. Today, look at your heart. Are you dragging around a stinky bag of sin and trying to make excuses? God can help you get rid of that sin and turn your heart toward Him. Each day you are making decisions for eternity.
PRAYER: Father God, by ourselves, we can do nothing. But you have made a way of escape for us through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Lord, help us to turn away from our sins and turn toward you. We give you permission to clean us up. Help us to desire you and your Word above everything else. In the mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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