Rid Yourself

1 Peter 2:1, Part II

“Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.”

The “therefore” of this passage points to Peter’s previous discussion of the amazing grace that God has offered us. In this verse, Peter tells us how we should respond to that grace. I’m going to lean on one of my commentaries for this next bit – it is on the money.

In light of the grace we have been given, repentance is the natural response. “Peter listed five sins of attitude and speech, which if harbored would drive wedges between believers. Malice is wicked ill-will; deceit is deliberate dishonesty; hypocrisy is pretended piety and love; envy is resentful discontent; and slander is backbiting lies. None of these should have any place in those who are born again. Rather, in obedience to the Word, believers are to make decisive breaks with the past.”

The bible teaches that we are saved by grace alone; only faith in Jesus Christ can bring salvation. Only the work of the Holy Spirit will transform us into the image of Christ. These are things that only God can do in our lives. But there is one thing that God will not do for us – He will not change our actions. God leaves the pesky chore of “putting off our old self” as Paul calls it, to us.

Not that God doesn’t help us…He gives us strength to overcome our bad habits. But we must overcome them. He gives us His Holy Spirit to convict us when we sin. But we must listen and obey the Spirit. He changes our heart and renews our mind so we want to be obedient to His Word. But we must choose to be obedient. When it comes to our actions, we must suck it up and do right – and that is a hard thing to do.

So, what sins are dragging you down? What actions do you need to rid yourself of? Gossip? Lying? Over-indulging in drink? Looking at porn on the internet? Is your choice of music or movies less than edifying? Are you disobedient to you parents? Are you ashamed of being a Christian around your non-Christian friends? If you are like me, you have several things you need to jettison from your life.

Peter says that we are to rid ourselves of these things – they interfere with our relationship with Christ and keep us from being who God intends us to be. The time we spend doing bad things is time we could spend doing good things. So…get busy – with the strength given you by the Holy Spirit who resides within you, rid yourself of these things!

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” – Hebrews 10:24