TODAY’S WORD FOR THURSDAY AUGUST 27, 2015.
CREDIBILITY
Capable of being believed; being trustworthy and honorable.
Beloved, I beg of you as sojourners and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, 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. I Peter 2:11-12.
Credibility is not something you buy. It is something that you work for and earn. We may be able to borrow credibility for a while by associating ourselves with credible people, but sooner or later we will need to establish our own credibility.
Take a moment and look at the verse we have written above as recorded by the apostle Peter.
First, Peter refers to us as sojourners and pilgrims. As believers that is exactly who we are, living temporarily on this earth waiting for God to take us to His house for eternity. Our real home is with God in heaven but for our life-time on this earth we are foreigners living in a secular society.
Secondly, Peter begs us that while we are visiting this earth that we abstain from lusts that war against our soul. In other words we are living in an evil world and we are not to participate in the evils of this world. We are not part of this world, we are just passing through.
Thirdly, we are to have an honorable conduct as believers. We must live good lives so that non-believers may see our good deeds. In the Greek language the word “honorable” implies the purest, highest and noblest kind of goodness. In order to have an impact on this world for God, we must live lives that are credible and uphold God’s commandments and we must abstain from fleshly lusts.
When we live the way Peter suggests we will develop a Christ-like credibility which is important for all believers as we share our faith with an evil world.
We have seen so many people lose their credibility by making unwise choices and when this happens it is most difficult for that person to ever get back his or her credibility.
As parents we need to teach our children, from an early age, to be honest, truthful and trustworthy because these are the character traits that make one credible. You do not win in life if you lie to or mislead people. The truth will always come back to hurt the one who misleads another.
God wants us to be credible witnesses for Him by following in His steps. Peter tells us in I Peter 2:21-22, “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.”
The word “example” here means pattern. In order to have real credibility we must pattern our life after Jesus.
Our memory verse for this week is found in Proverbs 27:1.
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.
Help me and my family to look to You as our example for we know that You are without sin and that You want us to live by Your standards and not the standards of the world we live in. Help us to be willing to follow in Your footsteps.
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