1 Peter 4:3
For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.
Truth to Learn
We’ve wasted enough time; now let’s focus on serving God.
Behind the Words
“Lewdness” is translated from the Greek word aselgeia, which literally means “not having control.” It is used primarily with regard to sexual appetite and is sometimes translated as “wantonness.”
We saw the word “lusts” in the previous verse. It is the Greek word epithumia, meaning “excessive or uncontrolled desires.”
“Drunkenness” comes from the Greek word oinophlugia, which literally means “overflowing wine,” but by application it means “excessive drinking of alcoholic beverages.”
“Revelries” is translated from the Greek word kōmos, which means “carousing” or “reveling,” implying a “letting loose of control.”
The word translated “drinking parties” is from the Greek word potos, which means a getting together for the purpose of getting drunk.
And finally, “abominable idolatries” comes from the Greek, athemitois eidōlolatreiais, which literally means “illegal image worship.” It refers to “the worship of anything other than God.”
Meaning Explained
Peter has just told us that we should no longer live for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. He now tells us that it’s time for change. We’ve spent enough time living like the ungodly to know that’s not the will of God. We did these things in the past enough to know that they don’t give us true happiness and certainly don’t give us peace. All they really do is produce amnesia, headache, and heartache.
We could probably sum up Peter’s description of these activities as illicit sexual activity, drunkenness, partying, and the worship of things instead of God. That’s how many of us lived before we were saved. Peter is saying that our past indulgences are to be put behind us so we can live unto God. None of these things is what God wants of us.
However, it’s easy for many of us to say, “I never committed any illicit sexual activity. I never got drunk, and I never went to wild parties, so this doesn’t apply to me.” What we often fail to see in this verse is that Peter groups “the worship of things other than God” in the same category as those other things.
Have you ever possessed anything that was so important to you that you would do anything to hang on to it, or that you spent so much time on that it made you forget about your commitments to God? These are all idols. I once had a car that was like that to me, and God had to tarnish my idol for me.
Application
As a Christian your life should not be characterized by the “party scene.” But remember, anything that distracts us from our focus on God is an idol, and our Heavenly Father considers that just as horrific as wild, sexual, drunken partying. Ouch!
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2009 Will Krause. All rights reserved.
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