Sweetness t, 1 Peter

Hey Jeff, sorry I haven't posted anything in a bit. I'm working on a paper for a grad class and doing everything else in between. As you commented about life and it's many distractions. I just wanted to make a comment about I Peter 1:22. I think this is one of those verses in the Bible that is so packed with much to unravel that it takes a lifetime to live out. "Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeined love of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart." It's hard to always think the best in others especially our brothers and sisters in the Lord. According to this verse, due to the fact that we have purified our souls by obeying the truth we ought to love the brethren and others with a pure heart. How do we do this? For me I apply this to mean that I need to be concerned about my own heart and let God deal with others. There are plenty of negative thoughts that the enemy will put in front of us to believe about our brethren. We need to remember that God is working on all of us, not just ourselves. Too often we tend to think that "oh, they are supposed to be such a great christian, in leadership, a servant of God." Judgement is too easy to rely on. We need to think the best in others due to the fact that it is the very Son of God who lives in us. The reason why the Holy Ghost fell on them at Pentecost (and other times in Acts) is because they were all in one mind and one heart, and in one accord (Acts 2:1). If they were all against one another than the Holy Spirit would not have come. In our meetings the Holy Spirit will not come when we are in division with each other and hold bitterness and judgemental thoughts towards each other. The Spirit of God will not move in our midst. Same today as it was back then. When God's people have pure hearts towards each other God will move in our lives and in the lives of our brethren.

Todd