1 Peter 2

Our Life on earth is limited and finite. It is our privilege, as believers no longer living in darkness, to know that any good we do on earth is through the grace of God. Everything, absolutely everything, is to glorify Him, and to bring others to His saving grace. Our good days, our bad days, our failures and our successes should all be given to God. When we believe in His Son, and the ultimate sacrifice that He made on the cross, He will change us. He will take those things meant to destroy us and turn them for our good and His glory.

2 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord
is gracious.

4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,

"Behold, I lay in Zion

A chief cornerstone, elect, precious,

And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame."

7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient,

"The stone which the builders rejected

Has become the chief cornerstone,"

8 and

"A stone of stumbling

And a rock of offense."

They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.

9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, 12 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they
observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

13 Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, 14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— 16 as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. 17 Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

20 For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. 21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:

22 "Who committed no sin,

Nor was deceit found in His mouth";

23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness— by whose stripes you were healed. 25 For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd
and Overseer of your souls.

The NKJV says this: The purpose of studying God's truth is not only to learn more, but to become mature in the faith. Not to receive Christ is to reject Him. Unlike the OT priesthood, in which only those who were born into a certain tribe could be priests, all who are reborn into God's family, that is, all believers, are priests who have the privilege and responsibility of offering spiritual sacrifices to God, The word of the Lord" is the gospel message about the Lord Jesus Christ. This word can regenerate
men and women. In ancient buildings, the cornerstone was first situated on the foundation and then all of the other stones were aligned to it. Thus as part of the house of God, we need to keep our focus on our Cornerstone. Those who trust in Jesus will never be embarrassed by making Him the focus of their lives. Unbelievers, because they do not follow God's Word, find Jesus to be repugnant, an obstacle in their way and a cause for disapproval and anger. Believers are a unified group of people who are set apart for God's use. His own special people: God protects those whom He has adopted into His family. Although we once deserved condemnation because of unbelief, we no longer are under the sentence of judgment. We must distance ourselves from our own self-indulgent urges. The Holy Spirit of God, who indwells us at the moment of salvation, is able to transform us. By the power of the Spirit we find the ability to "abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul". ). As we yield ourselves to God, and as we soberly and vigilantly resist the devil and all his temptations, we will find that God is able to "perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle" us. Peter forcefully commands Christians to submit voluntarily to governing authorities. He does not make submission a matter of personal conviction or choice. He decrees that it is an obligation for all Christians. We should submit all our actions to God, for He is our Master. Our reverence for God should be the basis of our relationships with others. All people are created in His image, and He is the One who has placed some people in authority over us. Therefore we should treat everyone with love and respect. Christians are to serve even the worst of bosses with respect. Believers are not merely to survive the difficulties that come their way, rather they are to bear patiently their heavy loads. There is no advantage to believers for successfully enduring a deserved punishment for wrongdoing, yet there is great value when we honor God with our actions when we are unfairly condemned by others. Christ was perfect in everything He did, even when He was wrongly condemned to death by the world. It is our sins that Jesus bore on the Cross. The purpose of Christ's bearing our sins is that we might live to please Him. Thus our spiritual healing comes neither from Jesus' day-to-day sufferings nor from His sufferings that led to the Cross, but from the one ultimate wound—His death. The life of Jesus, a life of suffering, is just such a tracing tablet. We, the learners of Jesus, are to trace this life, beginning from alpha and going on to omega. No one else is qualified to be the one Shepherd and Overseer of our souls—only Christ is.