1 Peter 2:16 - 17 “As free, and not using your
liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. (17) Honour
all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.”
As Christians we have a duty in this life on this earth, it is to honor our Heavenly Father. When God tells us “As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness” the word “cloke” means a veil or mask for sinfulness. The complaint most "imitation Christians” have with Baptist in salvation is the “once saved always saved” thought gives us a license to freely sin. While they have no idea what eternal security is all about or what Jesus dying once and for all means, I understand their thinking, even though they are wrong. Christians have a blessed liberty in Jesus Christ because when He went to the cross, He carried our sins with Him, condemning Him to die. The Lord said the Just for the unjust. “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:” 1 Peter 3:18 The very moment He died and shed His blood we were cleansed. We are not cleansed when we are saved, because our salvation is manifested when we are saved. The very act of our cleansing was when Jesus shed His blood. Salvation is an eternal process, it started in eternity past, it goes through earthly time, and into eternity future which is simply called eternity. However, salvation is our gift from God the Father, we are adopted into His eternal family as children. We belong to God, we were bought and paid for with the death, burial, resurrection, and blood of Jesus the Christ. As being a child of the King, we have standards to live by, and those standards are the scriptures. We are not to abuse our freedom from sin with sinning. We are not to mask our sinfulness with our salvation, because it is our freedom from sin. Jesus did not die and shed His blood so that we can live anyway we choose. We are to live “as the servants of God.” That is honoring our Heavenly Father in our earthly walk. "Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant." 1 Corinthians 7:20 - 22 Being free is freedom from our enslavement to sin, being free from our punishment for sin, we are not free to sin and use the blood of our Saviour as a covering. God said, "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." Galatians 5:16, 25 Walking in the flesh as though God doesn’t mind is a big mistake. If we are not Loving the brotherhood, and fearing God then we certainly are not Honoring our King. We are not just children but also servants, and God told us “Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear”, fear is what keeps us walking in righteousness, without our fear of our Father we will fall into sin. Our life on this earth as Christians is a reflection on our Heavenly Father and our Saviour Jesus. Just as our walk as church members is a reflection on our churches. People look at Christians and think that they (the lost sinner) are just as good as a Christian because they see some walk sinfully. When a lost soul looks at a Christian, they should see the work of God and the power of Jesus in us and our walk. As Christians we are to be walking testimonies of the work and power of God. Honoring our Heavenly Father, a glory to our Saviour, and a good reflection to what your church is about. Keep these words in your heart, “Your time belongs to your master; obey him in everything that is not sinful” -Adam Clarke.
