Scripture: I Peter 1:13-16
Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
MONDAY Hebrews 10:22-25, 12:10-15 Helping each other toward holiness
- Hebrews 10 said one of the principal purposes for meeting together as believers was “sparking love and good deeds.” In what ways did meeting together play an important role in nurturing the Wesley brothers’ spiritual life and commitment in the Oxford University environment? In what ways do your connections with other believers “spark” you to live out your faith? How are you able to encourage others?
- Hebrews 12, in just a few verses, linked holiness with healing, peace, discipline and God’s grace. What people or events most shaped your view of what it means to be “holy”? Do you tend to see holiness as positive and appealing, or does the word trigger less positive images for you? Does it make you more eager to “pursue holiness” when you realize that holiness describes what God, and life in God’s kingdom, are like?
TUESDAY Psalm 147:7-12, Matthew 4:8-11 Methodical worship
- Psalm 147 encouraged readers to worship and praise God. It said God rejoices in those who love, honor and worship him with their lives. God doesn’t require great feats of strength, hard work or even faith. To worship is to honor God, and put our hope in God’s faithful love (verse 11). Do you find it hard to believe or trust that your worship can bring God joy? How does knowing that God rejoices in your worship affect your relationship with God?
- Popularity, prosperity, prestige—something in each of us is tempted to base choices on the drive to acquire the “kingdoms of the world and all their glory.”” Jesus, too, faced this temptation while on earth (cf. Hebrews 4:15). But Jesus focused his life on worshiping and serving God. Which “kingdoms of the world and their glory” most tempt you to leave God’s path? How can you, like Jesus, resist that temptation? (One of Jesus’ strategies was Scripture memorization. Try memorizing Matthew 4:10.)
WEDNESDAY Psalm 42:5-8, 1 Thessalonians 3:5-10 Praying night and day
- For many thinking people, prayer touches on cosmic mysteries and raises many questions. (Excellent books like Phillip Yancey’s Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? grapple with these questions.) In simple words, what do you believe is the main reason to pray? Who benefits most from prayer—God, you, or the relationship between you?
- People frequently say, “It’s hard to pray regularly—I end up saying the same tired words over and over.” It doesn’t have to be that way. You may want to check out a book like 50 Ways to Pray: Practices from Many Traditions and Times by Teresa A. Blythe or Praying with the Psalms by Eugene Peterson.
THURSDAY Acts 17:1-12, Romans 15:2-7 Lives guided by the Bible’s principles
- In his Explanatory Notes Upon the Old Testament, John Wesley urged readers to “To set apart a little time, if you can, every morning and evening for [reading the Scripture] … It might also be of use, if while we read, we were frequently to pause, and examine ourselves by what we read, both with regard to our hearts, and lives.” Resurrection provides this GPS to help you to form the habit of Bible reading. Would you like to learn more fully about the Bible’s sweeping story? Disciple Bible study groups begin this week. To learn more and register, click here.
- Do difficult passages make you avoid Bible reading? Pastor Hamilton often advises (and this fits John Wesley’s counsel) that, if you read four things you don’t understand and one that speaks clearly to you, focus on the one thing you understand and set the rest aside for later. Try it. Read Matthew 5, the first part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, asking God to speak to you through all the parts that are clear to you.
FRIDAY James 1:22-27 Holiness that cares for orphans and widows
- In John Wesley’s day (as today), there were many who claimed to be followers of Christ, even though their intellectual knowledge of Christ’s teachings made no difference to the way they lived their lives. In what ways has your allegiance to Christ altered your activities, priorities and lifestyle?
- James (who was in all likelihood Jesus’ brother) used a phrase that may startle us at first, writing of “the perfect law, the law of freedom.” In what ways have you found that living in accordance with God’s call increases your freedom rather than limiting or frustrating it? When have you found in your own experience that doing whatever you feel like produces, not freedom, but a destructive kind of slavery?
SATURDAY 1 Peter 1:13-16 “The one who called you is holy”
An inner hunger for holiness was the guiding flame that illuminated all of John Wesley’s life and teaching. As he found, holiness is a broad Bible word, taking in all of God’s vast love and goodness (cf. Isaiah 6:3), and all the good things God desires us to be. Peter invited his Christian readers to “let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness.” (verse 15, The Message).
- Scholar William Barclay wrote about Peter’s words, “The word for ‘holy’ is hagios whose root meaning is ‘different.’ The Temple is hagios because it is different from other buildings; the Sabbath is hagios because it is different from other days; the Christian is hagios because he is different from other men. The Christian is… chosen for a task in the world and for a destiny in eternity. He is chosen to live for God in time and with God in eternity. In the world he must obey God’s law and reproduce his life. There is laid on the Christian the task of being different.” How does your heart respond to Peter’s stirring call to be holy, to be different by living as God’s blazing light in a darkened world? Are you willing to step up and say, “Yes—count me in”?