Matthew 5:16 “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” By the phrase aliens & strangers, Peter is saying that this world is not our home. Our real home is in heaven. As Believers in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the Cross, dying for our sins, repenting & accepting Him as Lord and Savior, we become children of God and citizen of the kingdom of heaven, as confirmed in John 1:10-13 “He (Jesus) was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” So Peter is saying that in holiness we should leave the sinful life behind and act like your Heavenly Father, reflect the light of Christ in righteousness, and walk in the Spirit that does not gratify the desires of the sinful nature, though we are in the god-rejecting world. Remembering that we do not do good and righteous works to get saved, but because we are saved by grace and the purpose is to glorify God. Every kingdom has a king. The kingdom of Heaven has a King. Citizen of Heaven, who is your King? Who do you obey? To say, “No Lord” is disobedience. God’s holy Word, Will & Way is our standard for behavior to model; the measuring stick to govern life, the prototype to evaluate everything against. Is what we think, say and do pleasing in the sight of God?
1 Peter 2:13-17 “Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, 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. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men—as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.”
The responsibility to reflect God’s holiness has been given to the church. God’s purpose in choosing believers for himself is so that they may declare His praises before others. Believers should live so that their heavenly Father’s qualities are evident in their lives. We are to serve as witnesses of the glory and grace of God, who called us “out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1Peter 2:9). So then, in practicing holiness we are reflecting God’s character to the world around us. All of our behavior must be pleasing to God. God has established all authority, and by respecting the office and honoring authority we show the world that we honor God. In other words, being under authority is reflecting holiness. However, we are always to be careful never to allow the law of the land to overrule the law of the Lord. Practice holiness in obedience to the King of kings and Lord of lords.
1 Timothy 6:12-16 “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.”
In Christ, Brian
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