Armor up!

"Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul" (1 Peter 2:11). Peter urges them, based on the fact that they will not live forever on this earth, that they conduct themselves differently. Just like someone who is journeying through a foreign country does not entangle himself with the lifestyle of that place; likewise, the Christian does not entangle himself with those things that would stop him from going home. Because of this, they were to flee these types of lusts. But there is something else I want us to look at for a moment.

The word "war" in this text isn't just a battle for an hour or for a few days. The word stands for a campaign of an army; a battle that lasts for possibly years and sometimes never stops. When we use this context, Peter is talking about a war that Satan wages upon us daily with the lusts we addressed already. This is the kind of brutality we fight against everyday. Our response to the call of war … armor up (Ephesians 6:10-18)!

Shane Millard