Author: Jim Cantelon

Key Verse: 1 Peter 4:7, 8 “The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins” (NIV).

The New Testament writers were all conscious of the “end of all things”. They expected the culmination of human history to be at hand. And, in the light of the soon return of Christ, there was an urgency about the early believers’ choices and values. They lived as though Jesus were at the door.

This is the context of the key verse — “The end of all things is near.” With that in mind, Peter encourages his readers to do three things: 1. Be clear minded, 2. Be self-controlled, and 3. Love each other deeply. Keep your brain in gear. Keep your morality pure. Keep your relationships strong. Practical, good advice.

Clear-mindedness means good thinking, focused thinking, and godly thinking. We all know how easy it is to let our minds be filled with all kinds of unhealthy stuff. Covetousness, adultery, dishonesty, and most other sinful behaviour starts with what you think about. You are what you think. And if you’re not yet, you will soon be. Solomon said, “As he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7).

Self-control has a lot to do with keeping a clear head. A man who fathers a child extra-maritally had the capability (I assume) to think through the possible consequences of it all back when he was fantasizing, long before he acted. We think, we choose, we act. Our morality reflects our thinking.

As we think clearly and act morally, we will be able to love deeply. God wants us to seek the good of our neighbour — to see him/her as a person, not an object. We’ll avoid a lot of sin that way.

Key Verse: 1 Peter 3:15, 16a “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defence to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience…”

There’s a difference between being able to “give a defence” and being defensive. Unfortunately, too many believers take it personally whenever someone questions their faith. They forget that it is not our responsibility to win anyone to Christ (“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him,” said Jesus in John 6:44). Our responsibility is simply to tell others about the Lord. We should have no performance anxiety or notches on our gun. Saving people is what God does. Telling people is what we do.

Giving a defence for the hope within us, then, is inextricably tied to knowledge — knowledge of God, His word, and of our experience. I refer to knowledge of our experience deliberately. Sometimes people will say, “I know that I know that I know…” — which means, “I know, but I don’t know why.” Peter is saying that’s not good enough. We’ve got to know why. We’ve got to be able to give a reason (NIV) for the hope that we have.

This means we’ve got to engage our minds with Gods’ word, with God’s Spirit, and with ourselves, thinking through what it means to be a believer. It’s not enough to say, through our lack of thoughtful preparation, that “You should believe because I do.”

Rather, we’ve got to be able to say “I believe, and here’s why”, rightly “dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). And we should do so “with gentleness and respect” (v.15 NIV).

Key Verse: 1 Peter 2:2 “…as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby…”

A newborn baby is voracious — he lives to eat. His whole world is committed to survival. And his parents (especially his mother!) must align their lives to that infant’s appetite for life.

One of the wonders of those first critical days of life is the special milk the mother’s breasts provide her baby. In fact, for 3 or 4 days her breasts produce not milk but “colostrum” — a specially customized drink that provides the infant with important nutrients and antibodies. I say “customized” because this wonderful fluid is perfectly compatible with the baby’s digestive system. It’s the fines elixir the little one will ever drink.

Have you considered the “customizing” factor in the Word of God? Think about it with me. God could absolutely confound, confuse, and overwhelm us with information that to Him is rudimentary but to us is beyond imagining. Instead, He carefully reveals His will and His love to us in terms we can understand. What’s more, He sends His Son to us to be one of us and speak to us on our level; in so doing, Jesus becomes the living Word.

So we have the written and the living Word custom designed for our spiritual digestive systems. Ingest the Word. It’s designed just for you — and it will give you life.

Key Verse: 1 Peter 1:3-5 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an in hesitance that can never perish, spoil or fade — kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time” (NIV).

Peter starts his letter by praising God the Father. He has done so much for us! He has given us a new beginning by raising Jesus from the dead. Jesus died because of our sin (and, as the Bible so clearly says it, all who put their trust in Him died with Christ — because “the wages of sin is death”). But, even as Christ rose from death, so too we will one day rise — to “newness of life”! In this new life, we have an incorruptible inheritance in heaven that’s waiting for us. Right now we’re saved through faith, but the Day of the Lord is coming, a day when the extent of that salvation will be revealed. In the meantime, we are “shielded by God’s power”. There’s no more effective protector than God Himself! I think we should join Peter and praise God too.

This is why Peter calls our hope a “living hope”. Even though our salvation is fixed in the Lamb of God who died in space and time “once for all”, it is also a dynamic thing. We’re both “saved” (static) and “being saved” (dynamic). We’ve become children of God, but we’re also growing in “the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”. He is our hope, and He is alive!

So whatever “trials” we may have to suffer, they’re only for “a little while” (v.6). It’s only a matter of time until every tear shall be wiped away. We will enter our living inheritance forever. Praise the Lord!

Key Verse: James 5:20 “…Whoever turns a sinner from the error his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins” (NIV).

In the context, the key verse is the continuation of a sentence which begins, “My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this:…” The  sinner who is being turned “from the error of his way” is someone who has formerly embraced the truth. He/she is probably someone who, for whatever reason, has grown negligent, discouraged, or bitter. Somehow, the right of Christ no longer shines brightly for them. Sin, decay, and death have regained a grip. They’re drowning.

So how do we go about bringing the light of Christ back into the backslider’s life? Certainly not with condemnation and finger pointing. “I told you so” doesn’t do it either. Whatever we do, we must do with wisdom — a heavenly wisdom that “is first of all pure, then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere” (3:17). And if you feel anything but wise, why not “ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault…” (1:5). Notice that God Himself gives generously to our inadequacy and does so without laying on any guilt trips (“without finding fault”). He fives graciously, and so would we.

That’s why the “grace” we show others “covers a multitude of sins”. We forgive rather than condemn. In so doing, the backslider is attracted rather than blinded by the light. The sinner sees himself in the overwhelming presence of grace (from us) and Grace (from God). His sins lose their power, and new life enters in — both for him and for the one “saving” him. For when we share God’s love with someone overwhelmed by sin, we’re “only a beggar telling another beggar where to find some bread.”

Key Verse: James 4:7, 8a “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”

Years ago the American comedian Flip Wilson used to get lots of laughs when he would look innocently into the camera and explain some fictional bad behaviour by saying, “The devil made me do it!” It was funny, but that’s all. In the real world, the devil can’t make us do anything.

Satan is a creature Like you and me, and all creation, he is subject to the creative activity of a Creator. The Creator. The devil can’t create; he can only distort and destroy. What’s more, unlike God, the devil is not all-knowing, all-present, and all-powerful. Only God knows everything. Only God is everywhere . Only God has no limits on power (although He does have the power of self-limitation). That means the devil has unanswered questions (he can’t “read” God’s mind — nor can he read ours). As a creature he can be in only one place at one time (although he has thousands of fallen angels covering mankind). And he’s powerless with you if you choose to resist him. Even his power to tempt mankind has been overrated — James tells us that temptation is a function of our “own evil desire” (1:14).

Satan’s war is bigger than his bite. He’s not even a legitimate lion — he is “like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour”. His strength lies in counterfeit. There’s only one true Lion; the “Lion of Judah”, Jesus Christ, our Lord our Saviour.

When Satan encounters resistance from someone who has the indwelling Lion of Judah, he turns tail and flees! There are a lot of unprotected souls out there to harass and bully. And bullies are cowards — they don’t waste any time around those in whom real power and integrity dwell.

So don’t see yourself as a victim of Satan. If anything, he should be victimized by us. We’re not victims. in Christ we’re victors!

Key Verse: James 3:2 “For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.”

If, indeed, the writer of this letter was Jesus’ half-brother, then it should comfort us to hear him say, “We all stumble in many things”. James was known in Jerusalem as “a Jew of the Jews”, a man of utmost piety and devotion to the Temple. There is a long-standing tradition that he used to climb the stairs to the Temple each day on his knees. He was highly regarded and respected as an ultra-Pharisee, and there were few, if any, in Jerusalem who would say anything bad about him. He was an excellent choice as the first leader, or bishop, of the early church (see Acts 12:17; 15; 21:18). so, when James includes himself as part of “all [who] stumble”, it should encourage us to know that even the greatest of leaders has need of daily confession and repentance.

The implied message here is that even though we may have a “blameless” life, we all fail from time to time in what we say. And, as long as our tongue trips us up, we’re far from perfect.

James very colourfully illustrates the power of the tongue. A small bit turns a huge horse. A small rudder turns a huge ship — even when storm winds are blowing. A small spark starts a huge forest fire. The tongue is untameable and “full of deadly poison” (v.8). One word can literally affect a person for “the whole course of his life” (v.6).

So what can we do about it? Cut it out? Muzzle ourselves? Or, as one philosopher put it, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”

Maybe the answer lies in something James has already said, “Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” (1:19, NIV). Let’s think before we speak.

Key Verse: James 2:18 “But someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works.’ Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

One of the great statements from the letter of James is, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” ( (1:27, NIV). Contrast James’ “religion” with that of many others — the “religion” that is self focussed, self-absorbed, and self-defined; the religion that its embraced because of what it brings rather than for what it gives; the religion that reduces the great themes and music of scripture to a means of a world end — that end being personal pleasure; the religion that majors on “felt needs” and pays lip service to real needs; the religion that signs a cheque instead of taking the hand of the widow and the orphan.

It’s plain to see that James, this half-brother of Jesus and respected Jew, was disdainful of “airy-fairy” religion that majored in “warm fuzzies”. As he saw it, your religion was worthless if it wasn’t changing for the better the way you and others lived. We are not only to reach out to the disadvantaged, James says, but we’re also to keep our morality pure. We’re not to conform to the world but transfer it. True religion entails both social and moral responsibility.

That’s why professed faith and practised faith are inseparable. That’s why James says, in effect, that you know it’s an apple tree if apples are growing from its branches. If it merely professes to be an apple tree, and nothing, or something other than apples, is growing, then it’s not an apple tree at all. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Key Verse: James 1:22 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

I like the way the NIV puts it, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” There are three subjects for discussion here: 1. listening to the word, 2. self-deception, and 3. practising the word.

When you look at the Greek verbs used in the New Testament for “deceive” (whether deciding others or oneself), there is a common denominator with some of them; it is best expressed by the humorous remark, “Don’t confuse me with the facts.” Self-deceit is essentially “a sin against common sense” (as one scholar put it). The specific verb used in the key verse is paralogizomai, which means “to reason falsely” or “to decide by false reasoning”. The question is, how is the reasoning in this context out of balance?

Here’s how. The Bible is not only tremendous history, literature, and poetry, it’s a book with an implicit (and explicit) moral challenge. It’s the word of God and cannot (or should not) be taken for anything less. It demands change in the reader. It is not content to leave us as we are. It expects growth, just as we do when we plant a sapling or a tulip bulb. In fact, none of us has ever planted a seed not expecting it to germinate and grow.

Imagine, then, a “gardener” who spends his day planting a garden in the desert, far from water, in scorching heat. You approach him at the end of the day as he contentedly sips a cup of tea and reads a book. “How can you be so happy?” you ask, “Your seed won’t grow!” He responds peacefully, “Grow? Who said anything about growth? I simply plant for recreation. It brings me peace and contentment. It blesses me.”

The word of God is not passive, nor does it expect a passive posture from its readers. The word is active, “sharper than any two-edged sword”, and expects the hearer to be transformed and, in turn, become an agent of change in the world. We are to do more than merely listen. We are to practise what we hear. The Bible was never meant to be taken passively. It is intensely personal, profound, and practical.

Key Verse: Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever ” (NIV).

Chapter 13 is sort of a postscript to the letter. The conclusion of the writer’s thought on the subject of Jesus’ superiority over the Law is “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (12:28,29).

In this chapter, he rambles through what the NIV Bible calls “concluding exhortations?” But in the middle of it all is an especially encouraging word about the trustworthiness of Jesus (and I’ve made it our “key verse” above). It speaks of Jesus’ “immutability”.

Immutability (or “unchangingness”) is one of God’s attributes. He never changes. His character is forever fixed. He is consistent.

This is why Jesus can be trusted today. Sometimes we think how wonderful it would be if we could have walked and talked with Him when He was “in the days of His flesh”. We think there would have been a greater sense of His presence or His reality — as it Jesus, like any other human, would be nearer if we were with Him in person. But think about it. “nearness” is not necessarily a spatial reality. For instance, we can lie under the same roof with someone, even sleep in the same bed and still feel very distant. Indifference, detachment, even alienation, unfortunately can sometimes characterize “intimacy”.

But Jesus is different. He’s as near to us today as He was to Peter, James, and John yesterday. He still saves from sin. He still heals. He still comforts. He still directs all who call on Him.

His love is as all-encompassing as always. His presence never fails. He’s true to His promise, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the ends of the earth.” He is the final sacrifice for our sin. He is the faithful advocate with the Father. He’s a friend “who sticks closer than a brother.”