therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit
for the purpose of prayer.
Insights: Remember the backdrop of
every characteristic we are going to look at the remainder of the week is Jesus’
imminent return. Because Jesus is coming
back we ought to be unified in prayer.
Peter gives us two areas in which prayer changes our lives. To show these dynamics I am going to quote
two different men. One will give us the
negative side, in other words, when our judgments and actions are our own; but
then I will give the positive side, in other words, when our judgments and
actions have been surrendered to Jesus’ Lordship through prayer. Gregory Frizzell wrote, “In many
churches, there is a small minority of members whose hypercritical, judgmental
attitudes put everyone else on edge.” We
know these people. We work with them, go
to church with them, and go to little league games with them. They are always finding fault somewhere. When we turn to God in prayer, however, our
judgments become like Jesus’. Those
judgments, like Wayne Grudem wrote are sound which means, “Having a sound mind,
thinking about and evaluating situations maturely and correctly.” As we pray about something or someone, Jesus
transforms our thinking to be like His and our judgments are then sound and not
hot tempered. If our temper is short,
then we are not sober of spirit. In fact,
we display to the world these characteristics Gregory Frizzell mentioned when
he wrote, “No believer should ever
excuse a short fuse or say ‘that’s just my personality.’ Yet the truth is, these people often tend to
take a secret pride in the fact others treat them with kid gloves or are
somewhat intimidated by their bluster.”
People with short tempers often are explosive in their reactions to
situations and they act before they have time to think or pray. Some of these people wear this character flaw
as a badge of honor. Wayne Grudem,
however, gives us the proper understanding of sober spirit when he wrote, “Sober
Spirit means not only physical drunkenness is forbidden but also the letting of
the mind to wander into any other kind of mental intoxication or addiction
which inhibits spiritual alertness, or any laziness of mind which lulls
Christians into sin through carelessness.”
Here is how it all comes together: because Jesus’ return is near, we
pray. As we pray our judgments on
circumstances of life changes and because they change we react
differently. Our judgments become sound
and our spirit sober because of prayer.
Questions:
- Do you look on the world with the eyes of Jesus?
- Do you display the fruit of the Spirit known as self-control?
Prayer: Lord, forgive me when I take on the role of judge and jury and
lose control of my words and actions.
Transform me as I speak with You in prayer to have Your judgments and
Your actions. Be glorified in my life
Lord. Amen.
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