A Study of Peter

The Apostle Paul warned the Romans not to have an over inflated opinion about themselves, saying, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you aught”, and encouraged them to have sober judgment in regard to their faith and the gifts we receive from God by the measure of faith we are given. The stronger the faith we have, the more God will give us and expect from us as we use those talents for his glory. We must never think of ourselves better than anyone else. We are all made in the image of God, and Jesus died for each one of us. No one person is more important than any other person. So when it comes to loving and helping our fellow Christian when they are hurting or in need, or have sinned and need restoring, we must always look upon that person with love and kindness and not contempt and judgment.

Part of having 'sober judgment' is remember- ing what we were like before we were saved by Jesus. We took a good look at Forgiveness, in our mid-week bible class and it was helpful to see an event that happened in the Old Testament that illustrated what we look like when we are in sin, and what goes on in heaven on our behalf by the Son of God. The story is found in the third chapter of Zechariah. Zechariah was one of the minor prophets, the term minor prophet does not diminish his importance, it only reflects that the volume of his work wasn’t lengthy. What he showed us was that one of the remnant survivors from Judah that returned from captivity in Babylon appeared in heaven before God and the Angel of the Lord, with Satan at his side accusing him of sin. The man was the High Priest at that time, Joshua.

continued in Wednesday class article

 — Jim L