Do you ever feel like you just don’t have a lot of opportunities to talk about
God with your friends? Or you don’t know what to say? The Bible is full of amazing stories of people just like you and me that were faced
with similar situations. They had their fair share of pressure from the culture
(Romans or Sanhedrin) to fears of hunger, disease, even death. They had
money problems, relationship problems, and legal problems. While we read
about their stories, the truth is we all have a similar story. Because we all deal
with problems like fear, lust, greed, anger, etc.
Recently I was teaching a Bible study on 1 Peter and we discussed how God
had given them what they needed to be able to “be a light” even though they
were going through plenty of hardship and persecution. They needed to be
encouraged by God’s word to help them keep going. Although our troubles
probably aren’t life-threatening, we still need to seek God.
Every time we seek God during a problem in life, we end up building our faith in God to see us through that particular problem. With that added knowledge and experience, we now have a story that is very personal and
very applicable to how to live according to scriptures.
2 Timothy 2:15, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who
does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Our job is
to “rightly divide” or “explain correctly” what the Bible (the word of truth) is
revealing to us. In 1 Peter 1:12, Peter told the people scattered throughout Asia that the prophets of old were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by
those who were willing to share God’s power working in their lives.
We have to realize that God’s word is applicable, or else we’ll begin to view
it as some people view math as “something I’ll never use," and then we’ll
categorize it away as worthless or obsolete. We know it is truly God’s word, and it has the power to save. Just as Paul said in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power
of God at work, saving everyone who believes.” (NLT)
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