Garden Decision 4

1 Peter 2:4-5

I have mentioned my friend Bill before. He was the one who got me interested in collecting miniatures. Bill was an expert at painting the 15mm figurines. He has thousands of them and his always looked fantastic. He also has an N gauge model railroad that is incredibly impressive.

I have long admired Bill and his talents. Many years ago I wanted to have the same things Bill had – a collection of miniatures and a model train layout. But I kept thinking that I could never do as good of a job as Bill.

Eventually I realized that if I wanted what Bill had I needed to do what Bill did. I needed to move forward with what I wanted and apply my talents, weak though they may be. In time I developed my own abilities and skills, and now I impress myself with what I can produce.

When it comes to faith we have one Master who has shown us what to do. Jesus Christ is the one who has given himself completely for the ransom of our souls. Jesus is the one who was able to express perfect love. Jesus is the example before us all.

And we can compare ourselves to Christ and find that we are seriously lacking. We can tell ourselves that there is no way we can ever be anything like Jesus. But Peter has some guidance on how we can develop our spirituality.

Who are we to come to? What happens to us when we draw near to Christ? What are we to offer?

We will never have the perfection of love and spiritual strength that we find in Jesus, but we can become better Christians. We do that by coming to Christ – drawing near to him in our faith, trying to imitate his behaviors and attitudes, trusting in his presence.

Then, as we draw near to Christ – becoming more like Jesus – we become priests in this holy faith of Christianity. We take on the spiritual authority and spiritual ability of devout believers. And through this devoted life and devoted behavior, what we do and say becomes acceptable sacrifices to God.

For each of us to be more like Jesus in our attitudes, for each of us to have more spiritual strength, for each of us to be able to do good things which are acceptable to God, we must first choose to do so. We must make our own decision to follow Jesus and be like him.

DAILY CHALLENGE: How can you be built into a spiritual house and a holy priesthood?