Tag Archives: called

FULL STEAM AHEAD – 13

May 17, 2024Christian Lifecalled, kindness, shareLuella Campbell

Peter 5:10-11 NLT‬
[10] “In his kindness, God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. [11] All power to him forever! Amen.”

Peter concludes this gem of a letter with a vote of confidence in the Ones who occupy the theme of his writing, God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

He puts everything into their correct order – ‘a little while’ of suffering now, an eternity of glory with Them. Though Peter doesn’t mention the Holy Spirit by name, he knows that He is always present because He administers to us all that God has made available by His grace.

The interim on earth is an important time for us. It is the apprenticeship we serve here for our place and function in God’s eternal kingdom.

Trouble is, we are often so caught up in the struggles of this life that we lose sight of their purpose. Learning to take the long look is the secret of navigating trouble with patience, perseverance, and hope.

‭2 Corinthians 4:18 NLT‬
[18] “So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”

We learn to ‘have finished with sin’ by celebrating the weaknesses that keep our feet on the ground in place of flying above in the realm of make-believe or mouthing our discontent and unbelief, and wiping off our unhappiness on others. When we trust God instead of trying to change what we don’t like, God will trust us with a future more glorious than we can imagine.

So, as Peter urges us throughout his letter, let’s stay within the boundaries of God’s infallible and enduring Word. Through this Word, we have been born again. Through this Word, we have the prescriptions for living holy lives.

Through this living Word, Jesus Himself, we have the model and mentor for enduring the sufferings associated with this life and the prospect of an eternity with Him. Through this Word, we have the promise of a support system that will see us through to the end, God’s Holy Spirit who dispenses all the grace and mercy we need to overcome all the obstacles on our way to glory.

It’s full steam ahead for all who have the goal in mind with no intention of not reaching it. All the negatives we experience mean we will not fail because God is determined to keep us on track. He wil do whatever it takes to get us home safely. It’s His promise!

JUST TRUST

April 17, 2021Bible Studycalled, God works, purposeLuella Campbell

JUST TRUST

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.” Romans 8:28-30.

How rich with meaning and promise these words are for God’s children!

With confidence in the character and faithfulness of God, Paul declared, “We know!” How did Paul know? Revelation, faith and experience! That’s how we know anything about God and His ways. Some only have revelation knowledge. They read the information contained in God’s Word. lt lodges in their brain as something they remember but it makes no difference to their lives. This goes no further than knowing about what God has said about Himself and His ways.

Others may go a little further by believing what they have read and giving assent to it as the truth. However, until they act on it, it remains nothing more than information but, when belief becomes action and becomes personal experience, like Paul, they can say, “We know!”

Hardships and trouble come to all of us. They are unavoidable, but the way we interpret and respond to them makes all the difference between stress and rest. Paul rested in God because, through experience, he had learned that God was able to bring good out of the worst of situations. It all depended on his perspective on life. Like Joseph said of his brothers, Paul was able to say, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.”

Of course, it all depends on our attitude to God. If we view Him as an enemy, we will blame Him for everything bad that happens to us. If we recognise Him as our loving Father, we will wait and look for the good that will eventually be revealed, even in the worst of circumstances and we will understand the motive behind the situations He allows us to go through. He’s got a plan.

So much of our old sinful nature still clings to us. It must be chiselled away through tough experiences which drive us onto God’s mercy. Like little children, we take shelter in Daddy’s lap. We learn that the temporal things of this life, possessions, activities, useless baubles and trinkets that decorate our lives and act as distractors, cannot support us when we are in physical or emotional pain. We need the comfort and love of our Abba to give us strength and reassurance in our suffering.

We learn to value the things that really matter – people, family, relationships, friendship, love, tolerance, forgiveness, patience, generosity, peace – and loosen our grip on the transient things of this world. God wants a family; sons and daughters who are like His Son Jesus. The raw material He has to work with, His new-born children, is not anything like His Son but, through the process of discipline and moulding, He slowly transforms us into the image of Jesus.

The outcome is sure because it is God, not people, who does the moulding. He shapes us according to His blueprint, His son, secure in the knowledge that, from His perspective, the work is already complete. When He predestined us, He had sons and daughters in mind. When He called us, He could see the end result. When He works on us, we are already innocent because He justified us through His Son’s death. As He crafts us, he can see Jesus mirrored in our faces.

What more can He do than He has already done? What does He want from you in return? Trust! Just trust! Instead of kicking and screaming, biting and scratching whenever life tightens its grip on you, just be still. He is at work in you. He will never do anything to hurt or destroy you. Since He loves you, He has a goal – to set you free from every destructive way so that you will become as beautiful and glorious as His own Son.

Acknowledgement

The Way Of The Master

January 29, 2015Bible Studybe like-minded, blessing, called, do not repayLuella Campbell

THE WAY OF THE MASTER

Finally, all of you be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

For, ‘Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.’ (1 Peter 3: 8-12)

Peter, you have learned your lessons well! Peter’s thoughts and counsel are thoroughly Hebrew and steeped in the Old Testament Scriptures.

If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you. (Prov. 25:21)

Lesson number one – be generous, not vindictive, towards your enemy.

The Old Testament principle was called “heaping burning coals” which, in Hebrew culture was not a form of retribution – quite the opposite. In those times, everything was carried on the head, as many African people do today. They learned to do it with perfect balance, leaving the hands free to do other things. If a woman carried an empty brazier on her head, she had not means to cook or warm her house. It would be an act of generosity to heap burning coals into her empty brazier; it would mean warmth, food and almost life itself for her in her need.

Lesson number two – do the right thing and you will receive a supernatural blessing.

Peter said, ‘Repay evil with blessing.’ What does he mean? There are two words for blessing in Hebrew: baruch, which is the supernatural blessing of God, and asher, which is the blessing of which Jesus spoke in Matt. 5 – the sense of peace and well-being that comes from making the right choices and doing the right thing.

In this situation, when people treat you as an enemy: with contempt, disdain or worse – insult, abuse or physical violence – the right thing to do is to do something positive in response so that you do not compound their sin with your own.

What lies behind the attitude of non-retaliation that expresses the kingdom way of living, a passage which Peter quoted in part? David gives us the answer in Psalm 34:11-14:

Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

Our motivation for doing the right thing should always be the fear of the Lord. That does not mean being afraid of punishment if we do the wrong thing. It means, very simple terms, taking God seriously. To fear the Lord is to have such reverence and respect for Him that we obey Him without question because He is God and because we cannot escape or hide from Him. He knows everything about us including our thoughts and motives.

Said Solomon after exhaustively exploring the meaning of life:

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. (Eccl. 12: 13, 14)

On the authority of Scripture, Peter told his readers that the right thing to under injustice and cruelty is to respond with kindness and generosity because that was the right thing to do. It is evidence that the child of God sincerely fears Him by living according to the standards and principles of the kingdom. God will respond with supernatural favour.

This is the way of the Master and evidence that we fear the Lord.

Christ Suffered For You

January 26, 2015Bible Studycalled, example, follow, steps, sufferedLuella Campbell

CHRIST SUFFERED FOR YOU

To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in His steps. ‘He committed no sin and no deceit was found in His mouth.’ When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. (1 Peter 2:21-23)

Slavery was an accepted part of life in those times. People were enslaved for many different reasons. Some had to sell themselves and their families when they fell on hard times. Others were enslaved through conquest. Many were the offspring of slaves who were sold off by slave owners, often as young children. There is no doubt that slavery brought terrible misery and suffering to a large part of the population. At least 40% of the Roman Empire at that time were slaves.

All slaves and their families were the property of their owners who could sell or rent them out at any time. Their lives were harsh. Slaves were often whipped, branded or cruelly mistreated. Their owners could also kill them for any reason, and would face no punishment. http://www.crystalinks.com/romeslavery.html

Although Peter was particularly addressing the slave community in the church at this point, what he taught has relevance for all God’s people. What he wrote was revolutionary. Not only was he encouraging his readers to submit to cruel treatment without resisting, but he also explained that their suffering was not just circumstantial but a calling from God! How on earth could the kind of suffering they had to endure be a calling? Had Peter somehow lost the plot? No, he was quite serious about what he wrote.

The majority of people in the world are in the grip of their ungodly nature – living for self and making their own rules. In the background is the ‘god of this world’, using his subtle influence to cause as much misery and destruction as he can. Some people even acknowledge him and willingly participate in his plan while others inadvertently carry out his evil design through the worship of false gods and the wicked ways their beliefs spawn.

There is only one way to overcome evil in the world – not by retaliating because this only contributes to more evil. Jesus revealed the answer by the way He conducted Himself throughout the ordeal of His unjust arrest, trials and crucifixion. Before He faced the cross, He came to terms with what lay ahead of Him, in the Garden of Gethsemane.

We know that a part of His mission was to be the sacrificial lamb for the sin of the world. To be the perfect and unblemished lamb, He had to be sinless which meant far more than not committing the gross deeds we reckon as sin. To be without blemish meant that He had to be in perfect harmony with the Father in every aspect of His life – thoughts, attitudes, and motives, as well as words and actions. Everything He was and did was to reflect the Father’s nature – love and light.

Since it was the Father’s will that He die, He submitted not only to death but to the manner in which He would die, by the agony of the cross and all its implications. Day by day He submitted and obeyed the Father and in Gethsemane, where He fought His greatest inward battle, He overcame all the evil that His enemies could throw at Him by submitting to the Father’s will.

No matter what they did to Him, they could not break His will to obey the Father. He not only became our Saviour but also our example. By submitting to the worst His enemies could do to Him without resistance or retaliation, He absorbed all the evil in Himself and left them guilty and without excuse for what they had done.

‘Now,’ said Peter, ‘you do that as well.’ When we leave the judgment to the Father in the face of cruelty or injustice instead of trying to take it on our own shoulders, we know we will not have to face the music for our own sin. We also know that God will be perfectly just in the end.

Although we do not suffer the indignities of slavery, there are many occasions when we are at the receiving end of unscrupulous people, employers, lawyers, and people in places of authority. When, like Jesus, we entrust ourselves to Him who judges justly, we put them to silence and bring them to shame and force them to be accountable for what they have done.

This is how the kingdom of God functions.

Just Trust

August 5, 2014Bible Studycalled, glorified, good, justified, predestined, purposeLuella Campbell

JUST TRUST

How rich with meaning and promise these words are for God’s children!

With confidence in the character and faithfulness of God, Paul declared, “We know!” How did Paul know? Revelation, faith and experience! That’s how we know anything about God and His ways. Some only have revelation knowledge. They read the information contained in God’s Word. It lodges in their brain as something they remember but it makes no difference to their lives. This goes no farther than knowing about what God has said about Himself and His ways.

Others may go a little farther by believing what they have read and giving assent to it as the truth. But, until they act on it, it remains nothing more than information. However, when belief becomes action and becomes personal experience, like Paul, they can say, “We know!”

Hardships and trouble come to all of us. They are unavoidable, but the way we interpret and respond to them makes all the difference between stress and rest. Paul rested in God because, through experience he had learned that God was able to bring good out of the worst of situations. It all depended on his perspective on life. Like Joseph said of his brothers, Paul was able to say, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.”

Of course it all depends on our attitude to God. If we view Him as an enemy, we will blame Him for everything bad that happens to us. If we recognise Him as our loving Father, we will wait and look for the good that will eventually be revealed, even in the worst of circumstances. And we will understand the motive behind the situations He allows us to go through. He’s got a plan.

So much of our old sinful nature still clings to us. It must be chiselled away through tough experiences which drive us onto God’s mercy. Like little children we take shelter in Daddy’s lap. We learn that the temporal things of this life, possessions, activities, useless baubles and trinkets that decorate our lives and act as distractors, cannot support us when we are in physical or emotional pain. We need the comfort and love of our Abba to give us strength and reassurance in our suffering.

The outcome is sure because it is God, not people, who does the moulding. He shapes us according to His blueprint, His son, secure in the knowledge that, from His perspective, the work is already complete. When He predestined us, He had sons and daughters in mind. When He called us, He could see the end result. When He worked on us we were already innocent because He justified us through His Son’s death. As He crafted us, he could see Jesus mirrored in our faces.

What more can He do than He has already done? What does He want from you in return? Trust! Just trust! Instead of kicking and screaming, biting and scratching whenever life tightens its grip on you, just be still. He is at work in you. He will never do anything to hurt or destroy you. Because He loves you, He has a goal – to set you free from every destructive way so that you will become as beautiful and glorious as His own Son.