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Why Wander Lost and Alone? God Cares for You!
From 1 Peter 2:19-25: For it is a credit to you if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly. If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God's approval. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps. "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth." When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.
How were you disciplined as a child? Time out? Spankings? Kneeling? Standing in the corner? I was spanked and I probably deserved most of them. There were one or two times I was disciplined for doing nothing wrong. How have you suffered as a Christian? Has it been for just reasons or was it because someone else did not believe as you or did not like Christians? Our suffering in this area is nothing compared to the people reading Peter's letter. A worldwide persecution against Christians sent many a person to their death and some to horrible whippings and scourges. Those, write Peter, have received God's approval. Whatever sufferings we have endured for the sake of Christ, Christ suffered first and more. How He received them is an example to us; He did not retaliate, Jesus did not threaten. Jesus surrendered His body and life to the care of God who judges all justly. Jesus gave His life to bear our sins to give us freedom to live for righteousness. And don't you love the verse that follows? "By His wounds you (we) have been healed." Christ's suffering and bleeding have given us spiritual and in some cases, physical healing. I sometimes say in the break of the bread during Communion, "By Christ's brokenness, we have been made whole." Peter concludes this passage by saying that we all sometimes wander off like stray sheep, but through all we have endured we have come home "to the Shepherd and Guardian of (our) souls."
"There's no place like home," was a great statement in a classic movie of 1939, and it's the great theme of the Bible; apart from God we tend to wander into places we regret and the grief and pain of separation is more than any human should endure; but in the arms of God we find the goodness and fullness of life as only Christ can provide. Home is where the heart of God can be found to comfort and love us like no place else; and what more can we expect from the One called by Peter, "The Shepherd and Guardian of our souls?" God guides and provides; God guards and protects like no one or nothing else.
PRAYER: Loving God, bless us while wandering with the sense and guidance of Your love to come to the place where we turn our hearts home. Once we're home in Your heart, bless and protect us. Grant to us the fullness and abundance of life that we can share with others. This we pray and claim in Christ Jesus our Lord, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
