Hao 8

Hey friends! Everything's going pretty good on my end, but for some reason I've been feeling a lil antsy/restless this week. It's weird cuz I don't really have any good reasons for it. I guess I just gotta munch on that daily bread of life & chill out haha

VERSES (1 Thess 5:4-11 & 1 Peter 2:9)

I LOVE these 2 chapters. I encourage you guys to read them in their entirety because they contain so much goodness & truth. For the assigned verses this week, one theme I noticed is the significance of our IDENTITY. Who am I? What is my nature? Who do I belong to? In these passages, we are told that we are children of light and day, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and God’s own special people. Furthermore, our identity leads us to live and behave exceptionally & puts us on a glorious life trajectory. Since we belong to the King as His redeemed people, we ought to stay awake and alert & be armed with faith, love, and hope. In the end, we are destined to enter into “His marvelous light” and to “obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ”. The ultimate reason for all this is so “that you may proclaim the praises of Him”; i.e. the ultimate be-all and end-all is to to praise, worship, and glorify God. Ahh it's so easy for us to forget such awesome truth. Everyday I get it twisted; everyday I need to get renewed. 

To reiterate, our identity is paramount in shaping our life direction and determining our final destination. For us who trust in Jesus, our true identities are objectively stated in this week's passages. Moreover, it's also important for us to personally affirm and cling to those amazing identities, rather than accepting the lies and fake identities that darkness throws at us. Always remember who you are! (I thought about making a Lion King reference here but I didn't think anyone would get it haha)

Lemme end with some cool extra verses from these 2 chapters:

"Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul."

"Hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil."

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances"

"Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it."