March 5, 2023: 1 Peter 2:11 - Home is Where Your Heart Is

“Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul…” - 1 Peter 2:11

It has been said “Home is where your heart is” and the Bible tells us that is true for believers in Christ, who know this world is not our true Home but only a temporary stopping place on our way to eternity:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Jesus Christ; Matthew 6:19-20)

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (Jesus Christ; John 15:18-19)

“We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.” (1 John 5:19)

“Now this is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world be cast out.” (Jesus Christ; John 12:31)

Since our time here is only temporary, we should not grow deep roots to things we own and with the people and things we love such that their hold on us is more than our love for Jesus and our desire to stand in the truth of God and trust in His eternal salvation. When the things and people of this earth are our treasure, when they are that which we value most instead of our eternal salvation, then we will do all that is necessary to protect and preserve them, even if it means turning away from God and what His word says. This is exactly what is happening in many American churches today and has been for quite some time. Their mission changed from carrying out the Great Commission, as Jesus gave to all who believe in Him as Savior, to the Great Collision because the thing that they value most - money - collides with what the Bible and what Jesus Himself told us we should value most: eternal salvation from sins through faith in Christ alone.

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [riches].” (Jesus Christ; Matthew 6:24)

Many churches today are preaching a different gospel, one which has been altered to appease people who want not only to remain in their sin, their fleshly lusts which war against the soul, but also want everyone to accept and promote it, including and especially in the churches. This is exactly what was prophesied in the Bible that would happen in the last days before the start of the tribulation period and the second coming of Christ. The apostle Paul wrote about this in the book of Galatians:

“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:6-10)

Believers in Christ are not exempt from temptation. It is not a sin to be tempted, but sin occurs when we give-in to the temptations. The lure of sin’s desire is what draws people back into sin. Believers must actively fight against this, and the only way we can is through the power and might of God, standing strong in Him and on His word. The world tells us to follow our hearts, and that is exactly why we are in the dreadful state we are in today, for as the Bible tells us, the heart is deceitfully wicked:

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” (Jeremiah 17:9-10)

Sadly, many pastors of churches today are leading many people straight to hell because their hearts are not owned by God but by the devil himself. As the apostle Paul wrote about, it is the people themselves who attend the churches who will not stand for the truth of God and instead seek those who tell them what they want to hear - lies from Satan - instead of what they need to hear - the truth of God. There are plenty of false pastors and false teachers out there who are ready and willing to tell them what they want to hear. Paul warned about this:

“I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His Kingdom:

“Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry,” (2 Timothy 4:1-5)

I believe we are this point in time that Paul described above. More and more pressure is going to be put on the church and on believers in Christ. I believe the ultimate end will be that the word of God is defined as “hate speech” and will be banned from all public areas, including social media, and then will be banned completely, even in our own homes. This is already done in many countries, and I believe that time is soon coming to the western nations, including America. As the pressure is applied, may we remember the exhortation of Peter in today’s Scripture verse and also of Jesus and Paul in the passages below. May we remember that we are only traveling through this world and that our true Home is with Jesus, and may we give our whole heart to Him.

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions [dwellings]; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.” (Jesus Christ; John 14:1-4)

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.” (Titus 2:11-14) ✝️