"For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. . . . Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good." (NIV)
Video games are hugely popular (as we all know). To be honest, I love gaming! There are some really fun games, both online and for devices, that provide adventure, creativity, and excitement, all from the comfort of your armchair or couch.
One of the things that is, I think, so attractive about gaming (particularly about adventure gaming) are "redo’s." A redo is where your character "dies" and you become reborn to quest again. Some rebirths are limited for a period of time (Candy Crush gives you five lives and then you have to wait to have your lives restocked) and some rebirths cost resources. Redo’s allow for a certain courage to take risks. Plus, you can "try" against whatever challenge is presented and, if you fail, you simply redo the challenge, trying another tack.
As we all know, living life in chronological time, there are no redo’s. Whatever decisions we make, we must live with the consequences. But God Himself has provided the ultimate redo: spiritual rebirth. Those of us who are Christians are not simply members of a certain religion nor do we simply follow the mandates of a particular book. We are, in fact, reborn. That is the central (and wonderful) difference that provides us with some amazing "superhero" powers. (Yes, while we aren’t superheroes, we can appropriate the power of the Holy Spirit who is the ultimate superhero!)
What are we reborn to become and what powers can we appropriate?
First, once we are reborn, there are no more rebirths. Why? Because they aren’t needed. Once we are reborn, we are reborn to eternal life. "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16 NIV). Without rebirth, we face eternal death, eternal condemnation. But with rebirth, we are guaranteed eternal life. To be honest, even just that should be enough to make us constantly rejoice!
But there’s more . . . because we are given superhero powers! (And no, I’m not talking about the gifts of the Spirit, though those are indeed super powers.)
We are given the power to cast aside our egocentricity and to embrace sacrificial love toward others. We are given the ability to put aside all the evil that naturally lives within us and to embrace all the good that is God. Before we were reborn, we lacked the ability to choose righteousness:
"Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness." (Romans 6:16-18 NIV).
Here’s where this can become complicated to understand. Paul isn’t talking about someone simply appearing to be a good person. Paul is talking about the kind of right living that pleases God (God who is all and completely good). There are people in the world who are doing "good" things, but they are still rebellious and self-willed. They are still doing what they want to do and while outwardly they may appear selfless, there is an inherent self-centeredness in their life choices. It doesn’t mean we won’t like them; they may totally likeable. But all of us have sinned against God and that’s the ultimate standard: Are we free to please God? That is our superpower! As Christians, because of the Holy Spirit living in us, we now have the ability to live and please God.
Peter tells us, in order to please God we need to "rid ourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander" (2:1). Malice (kakia, Strong’s G2549): evil, naughtiness, wickedness that is not ashamed to break laws. Deceit (dolos, Strong’s G1388): guile, trickiness. Malice is the doing and deceit is the justification. We have been given consciences, but we often ignore them and instead try to justify what we are doing as necessary or even helpful.
Peter is asking that we become innocent like newborn babies who have no intent to trick people, but rather are honest in our dealings with others. And we do that by doing away with envy and slander. Envy: wanting what we don’t have. Slander: talking ill about others. Envy and slander disappear when we become content with our lives, trusting God to provide what He knows we need and not wanting more than He gives.
After we are reborn, we are to "grow up" in our salvation. It isn’t enough just to be reborn; we need to function in our rebirth by becoming mature Christians.
"In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." (Hebrews 5:12-14 NIV).
Growing up in our salvation means that we need to train ourselves by telling the difference between good and evil and this begins by putting away malice, deceit, envy, and slander.
We have been reborn. We’ve been given a once in a lifetime opportunity. Maybe it’s time we begin to live like it.
© 2016 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
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