1 Peter 4:18
18 And [kai] if [ei] the righteous [dikaios]
scarcely [molis] be saved [sozo], where [pou] shall [phaino] the ungodly [asebes] and [kai] the sinner [hamartolos]
appear [phaino]? KJV-Interlinear
18 And if it is with difficulty
that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the
sinner?NASB
Peter is quoting from
Proverbs 11.
Prov. 11:31
31 If the righteous
will be rewarded in the earth, How much more the wicked and the sinner! NASB
The reward from this
earth (sin), is punishment.
It is not without
tremendous difficulty that God is able to bring a person from spiritual death
to spiritual completeness.
In every step of the
way, a person has to want what God has to offer. From the initial desire to even know about
God, to the actual listening of the gospel, to the belief in Christ, to the perseverance
of a daily study, to learning, to application of doctrine to ones life, to
adopting Gods mandates, to avoiding indifference or compromise, to overcoming
prior beliefs and habits, to actually advancing all of the way to maturity, to
avoiding not falling off the spiritual path because of life's pressures, and
all this has to be continued after salvation for the entirety of ones life.
When a person falls, he
is disciplined.He has to get up. He has to keep from becoming
discouraged.He has to keep from
becoming afraid. He has to keep from being overcome by anxiety. He has to have faith, which is the toughest
component of ones life.How do you
separate faith out from the day to day common sense actions you should take?
And the answer to that
one is really simple.Bible study gives
you faith, and faith gives you common sense to do the things you need to do in
your daily situations.You do what you
need to do in life and trust that God is a few steps ahead of you, leading the
way.
But remember that your
hoped for outcome may not occur, but later on, in hindsight, you will be able
to see and understand how God has positioned things for you, in order to get
you into a better situation, even though you did not get what you thought you
wanted.
You ll have to look in
the mirror to figure out your own personal life, and what it has all meant.
So salvation, spiritual
growth, the spiritual life, all for this comes to you not without great
difficulty.
How so for the
spiritually negative believer or the unbeliever? They neither seek nor desire to advance in a
relationship with God.Less so the
unbeliever.All the negative person
wants is to have their pleasures fulfilled.
God goes to a
tremendous amount of effort to get the positive believer launched into his
spiritual life, and with that success, comes great reward.
The negative believer,
the unbeliever, who do not pursue their spiritual lives, can expect what kind
of reward?Zip!
God goes to a great
deal of punishment in order to keep the positive believer on track. How much more punishment will the negative or
unbeliever receive?Much more.
God does not hold back
discipline from those who are positive toward Him. How much more so will he not withhold
punishment from those who are negative?
And the answer to all
of these questions is simply that the negative believer, the unbeliever, will
all receive phenomenal disciplines and judgments in due course. No one escapes.
Looking at the wicked
of the world as they prosper, and finding envy within yourself, means that you
need to look past their prosperity and look to their ultimate end. What they have is zero, even if they are
filthy rich, because their life will end up in total misery, loss, failure and
worse.
Sure you want life to
be easier now, but this is the devils world.
Why would you expect him to give you anything?
God is your ultimate
provider, not the world, and God knows your life, God knows your plan (His plan
for you), and God knows every little detail of your life along with everyone else's. Satan and the world, do not.
Keep your eyes on
doctrine, not on the world, not on circumstances. Keep thinking and considering your options,
and follow your heart.God will be there
ahead of you, even if you screw up.
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