Author: Brian Burdett

“So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.” – 1 Peter 2:1

This should keep every follower of Jesus busy for awhile! There’s no place for these qualities in any follower of Christ. For those called to imitate Jesus, the Lamb of God, we must work hard to get rid of these things in our own hearts, minds, attitudes, words, and actions. While this is hard, we must be brutally honest with ourselves and take this soul work seriously.

If you follow Jesus, you must put away malice. You can’t maintain a grudge or desire to hurt or harm anyone. You must let go of any desire to see others suffer. Even those who’ve wronged you terribly you must commit to the Lord and trust in His perfect justice and vengeance rather than your own.

If you follow Jesus, you must put away deceit. Period. There’s no scenario where lying and deception in your interpersonal relationships, work, or social life is appropriate. You can’t practice deceit while growing in the Lord Who is Truth. Speak the truth, even when it’s difficult or costly.

If you follow Jesus, you must put away hypocrisy. At its most basic level, hypocrisy is about pretending to be more holy, righteous, and together than you actually are. God knows the truth, of course, but hyprocrisy keeps you from being touched and transformed by that truth. Stop pretending, start being honest with yourself and others, and apply the Gospel to yourself and your problems rather than trying to force it on others and their problems.

If you follow Jesus, you must put away envy. Learn to find your satisfaction in Christ and be happy for others as they enjoy whatever blessings they enjoy. Once we’re satisfied in Christ, there’s no need to envy what others have that we don’t, because we have everything we need in Jesus. As long as envy rules in our hearts, Jesus doesn’t, because envy says we need something more than Jesus to be satisfied.

If you follow Jesus, you must put away slander. You should never be speaking negatively of others and you certainly shouldn’t be lying about them! Again, you follow a God of truth and you must only speak truth. What you say about others should build them up, not tear them down, for that is how Jesus speaks of you!

“Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, ‘What do you seek?’ or, ‘Why are you talking with her?’” – John 4:27

Jesus’ disciples were utterly shocked that He would be talking to a woman. It simply wasn’t done in the culture of the day. Particularly not a Samaritan woman (Jewish people hated Samaritans and vice versa). Particularly not a woman who was something of an outcast in her own town.

They didn’t understand that Jesus was for all people. They didn’t understand that this woman was the very reason John 4:4 says Jesus “had” to pass through Samaria (most Jewish people simply went around it). They didn’t understand that this woman was about to be an immediate and powerful witness of Christ who would bring everyone she could find to meet Him.

Jesus understood. Jesus knew He was here for her and through her all the people of her town. Jesus knew that she was ready to believe and receive Christ. So He talked to her, challenged her, and led her to faith. Through her, this most unlikely of people, many were saved.

Too often, we pre-screen those we share the Gospel with. We assume that someone won’t be interested in Jesus based on how they look, how they dress, their faith background, their lifestyle, their ethnicity, or how different they are from us. We hold back on sharing words of life with people who may be eager and ready to hear and receive them simply because of cultural norms and human assumptions. Don’t! Don’t decide in advance who needs to hear the words of life. Don’t pre-screen those “likely” to respond to the hope of the world.

We don’t know people’s hearts. We don’t know what God has already been doing in their lives. We have a straightforward task – make disciples. Don’t overthink it and don’t hinder it by deciding on someone’s behalf that they probably aren’t interested in eternal life. Speak to everyone of Jesus, even to an outcast of a different gender from a different ethnicity when she’s busy running errands.

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” – James 5:16

Is there a believer in your life who is close enough that you would do this with them? Is there someone to whom you would honestly confess your sins and ask for prayer in fighting them? Clearly, there should be! Christians weren’t meant to go through life with only casual or superficial relationships. We’re meant to be in deep relationships with at least a few other Christians.

The Bible gives many “one another” commands such as this one. The “one anothers” can only be obeyed if we’re seeking to cultivate deep friendships in the Lord. As we do this, we have opportunities to strengthen and encourage one another, to heal and challenge one another to greater Christlikeness. When we don’t let ourselves know and be known deeply by fellow Christians we lose out on the tremendous power of prayer for our struggles, Don’t fight Satan’s temptations alone!

If you don’t already have relationships with a handful of believers in which you could confess your struggles, disappointments, temptations, and failures, seek them out. Be intentional and persistent. Find a small group of believers and start getting to know them. Work hard to find and engage in life-on-life relationships. It isn’t necessarily quick or easy to find those who will labor alongside you in prayer, but don’t give up and don’t sit back waiting for it to happen. You need the powerful prayers of righteous people working for you and others need your powerful prayers working for them!

“But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” – Jeremiah 29:7

These words are from a letter Jeremiah sent to Jewish exiles living in Babylon. He knew they would be there for decades before God brought them back home. Though Jeremiah wrote specifically to them, there’s a valid principle here for followers of Jesus in 2022. Whether you realize it or not, if you’re a follower of Jesus, then you’re living in a kind of exile wherever it is you live. Every follower of Christ is a citizen of heaven first and foremost, living in a fallen, sinful, broken world.

In this world, you represent Christ as His ambassador but you don’t truly belong. You aren’t from around here! This is why, the more you grow in Christ, the less you feel comfortable with things as they are in the world around you. That’s why the world increasingly feels wrong to you. So, what should you do as an exile in your homeland? Represent King Jesus and make disciples of course. Then, like the ancient exiles in Babylon, you should seek the welfare of whatever nation, state, and community you live in.

Though we can’t fix every problem in this fallen world (that will happen when Jesus returns), as God’s people we should work and pray for the good of our earthly homes. Though we live in exile and our true home is in heaven, we should also care about suffering, poverty, injustice, division, and conflict in our community. Be diligent in praying for your community and country and the issues they face. Be active in working for the good of everyone around you and be blessed by that work. You aren’t where you are by accident. God’s will placed you at your address, so seek the welfare of that place in His name.

“Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.” – Jeremiah 23:24

There are no secrets from God. Whatever we might believe we say, do, or think in private is fully known to God. Fully known…. In light of His presence and His knowledge our response shouldn’t be to try harder to hide from Him. Indeed, there’s only one appropriate way to respond to a holy God who sees and knows everything…

Be honest with Him. Admit what you’re doing to God, commit to change your ways, and ask God’s forgiveness and help to change. That’s called repentance. Since you can’t hide from God, you need to repent of what you’ve been trying to hide and embrace God’s amazing grace instead.

The amazing grace of God is that He will forgive you for whatever guilt or shame you’ve been trying to hide from Him. He won’t forgive you because you suddenly turn over a new leaf and become a super-good person. He won’t forgive you because you suddenly get very religious. He won’t forgive because of anything you could possibly do. He’ll forgive you because of what His Son Jesus already did for you on the cross.

Jesus entered our world, lived a sin-free life, and died as an atoning sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sins. He was buried and He rose from the dead on the third day. Everyone who trusts in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will be forgiven their sins and cleansed of their shame. That’s God’s grace, which is given through faith in Jesus Christ.

In light of God’s comprehensive knowledge of literally everything, don’t try to hide your “secrets” from the Lord. Instead, get radically honest with Him. Admit everything – to yourself and to the Lord. Then embrace His radical, amazing, life-transforming grace. There’s no other option that makes the slightest bit of sense since God fills heaven and earth!