Living For God, Not For Self

“Strengthen yourselves so that you will live here on earth doing what God wants, not evil things people want” (1 Peter 4:2 NCV).

What are you doing to fortify your faith? Here are just a few habits that can help you grow in this area:

Study the Bible. We need to make his Word a part of our lives. God’s Word is divinely inspired, and it will help you to be fully equipped to do everything God wants you to do.

Maintain a quiet time. How are you doing with your quiet time? If that’s a guilt-inducing question, perhaps you’re trying to have a quiet time like someone taught you long ago, but the method you were taught doesn’t fit the way God shaped you. What can you do to spend some daily time in God’s Word?

Read Christian books. Do yourself a favor, and learn all you can. Keep feeding your soul with what other believers have to say. If all I do is study the Bible for myself and don’t listen to what other Christians have to say about it, I’m not gaining from the wisdom and experience of other believers.

Keep your testimony fresh. What is God doing in your life? When was the last time you wrote out your testimony? If you write it out, God will give you the chance to share it. When you share your testimony with others, it fortifies your faith.

Be faithful to a small group of believers. The Bible says we should “encourage one another and build each other up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11 NIV). We are in a marathon of faith, and we need to run together. We need the support and encouragement of other believers.

1 Peter 4:2

Stewards of God's Grace

(1Pe 4:1 SO, SINCE Christ suffered in the flesh for us, for you, arm yourselves with the same thought and purpose [patiently to suffer rather than fail to please God]. For whoever has suffered in the flesh [having the mind of Christ] is done with [intentional] sin [has stopped pleasing himself and the world, and pleases God],)

1Pe 4:2 So that he can no longer spend the rest of his natural life living by [his] human appetites and desires, but [he lives] for what God wills.

That he no longer should live,.... 

The Arabic version reads, 

"that ye no longer should live". 

This expresses the end of being armed with the above thought, that a suffering saint after death is clear of sin; and the use that is to be made of it in the present time of life, and the remainder of it, that such a person who so thinks, and is thus guarded and fortified against the fears of death, should no more, or any longer live,

the rest of his time in the flesh, to the lusts of men, but to the will of God: the phrase, "his time in the flesh", means the present time of life, in the body, and is the same with those phrases, in the days of his flesh, to abide in the flesh, and be at home in the body; and the words of the text suppose the former part of this time to have been spent in sinful lusts and pleasures, as the former part of the time of God's elect, even that before conversion, is; and that the remaining part of it, be it longer or shorter, ought to be spent otherwise: "not to the lusts of men"; of wicked and unregenerate men, unconverted Gentiles; which they are addicted to, immersed in, and serve; and which they are desirous others should live in; and which are sometimes called divers worldly and fleshly lusts; and are foolish, and hurtful, and deceitful, and drown men in perdition, and therefore not to be lived unto: "but to the will of God"; revealed in his word, and which is good, acceptable, and perfect; one part of which is sanctification, holiness of heart, life, and conversation, as also patient suffering all reproach, injury, and persecution, for the sake of the Gospel; to live soberly, righteously, and godly, to study to exercise a conscience void of offence towards God and men, and to suffer patiently for his name's sake, is to live to the will of God; and nothing more strongly should engage to this than the consideration of a sinless life after death; see 2Pe 3:11. The lusts of men, and the will of God, being opposed to each other, shows that the nature of man is sadly corrupted, and is opposite to God; and that the will of man is depraved, and that the desires of it are not to that which is good, but are contrary to the will of God.