Don’t be complacent

We have seen that if we are living godly lives we will be persecuted, Christ suffered persecution to the ultimate degree. 

So how do we handle and conquer persecution? Let us see what Peter tells us in 1 Peter 4:1 "Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin," It says "Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh", this is referring to what we studied in 1 Peter 3:18 that Christ suffered for our sins and paid the ultimate price - a painful death on the cross. When you think about that, that Christ suffered on the cross because of our sins, why would we want to take pleasure in that sin that Christ suffered for. Why would we want to continue in a sin that Christ painfully suffered for. The thought of that alone ought to make us want to strive to live godly lives. We need to examine our lives and ask God to reveal those areas in our lives that are not pleasing to Him. 

My friend, Sometimes as Christians we get complacent, We tolerate sin around us. For example TV, we now see a lot more stuff on TV than we did before. The TV moguls are getting their point of view across stronger and stronger, getting us used to seeing things and hearing things that we never would have allowed before. But slowly we start accepting it, saying it isn't that bad. 

So how do we guard against this? Peter goes on to say "arm yourselves also with the same mind". The Greek word translated "arm yourselves" was used of a Greek soldier putting on his armor and taking his weapons. The noun of the same root was used of a heavily-armed foot-soldier who carried a pike and a large shield as opposed to a soldier who was lightly armed.
The Christian needs the heaviest armor he can get, to withstand the attacks of the enemy of his soul. We need to be vigilant to make sure that our minds are focused on heavenly things, that we keep our minds pure. We all have busy lives, but we need to make sure that even though we are busy we need to make sure that God is number one in our lives, that we make time in our day for Him. When you examine your life in a 24hr time span, think about what you spend your time doing. At the end of the day, if we cannot think of one thing that would count for the glory of God, then that day was wasted. My friend, we need to make sure that our lives glorify God, that something in that 24hr period counts for eternity.