We should Commit our Souls to the Faithful Creator and Live to Righteousness Today

As those under the mighty hand of God for His discipline, suffering in our soul, we should commit our souls to the faithful Creator who loves us and cares for us, realizing that we have died to sins in the death of Christ so that in His resurrection we might live to righteousness under God’s government. Amen!

This week we have been enjoying the matter of living a Christian life under the government of God, as seen in the Epistles of Peter.

The subject of Peter’s first epistle is the Christian life under the government of God; it shows us in particular the government of God as He deals with His chosen people.

On the one hand, as 2 Peter shows us, God gives us the divine provision; on the other hand, as seen in 1 Peter, we need to live the Christian life under the government of God.

God governs over all things, and He governs by judging.

We all know that one day every human being will be before the throne of God to give an account of the things we have done while in the flesh; however, we also need to know that, as believers in Christ, we are under God’s judgment today.

God’s judgment is present and daily – it is God’s governmental dealings with us, His children, so that we may be the holy children of our holy God.

The disciplinary judgment in the government of God begins from us, the house of God.

Today God uses fiery ordeals to deal with us, the believers in Christ, so that we may be purified and so that we may be holy in all our manner of life.

This is an outstandingly precious matter we see in Peter’s writings – he combines the Christian life and God’s government, showing us that the two go together as a pair.

On His side, the Triune God went through a long process in Christ and has become the life-giving Spirit to indwell us; this is for our Christian life.

However, even though we believers in Christ are regenerated by God to be His sons, we still are in the old creation, and we are still under Him as the Creator.

Therefore, we need God’s governmental dealings.

When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He lived a human life under the government of God; He was persecuted, evil spoken of, hated, and misunderstood, and He committed everything related to Him to God’s government.

Now we have Him in us, and we need to live in the same way today; we believers in Christ should live a Christian life under the government of God.

May we be humbled under the mighty hand of God which carries out the government of God.

He works in our environment to make us humble, but we need to be willing to be humbled under the mighty hand of God.

Today we want to see that we should commit our souls to the faithful Creator and we should live to righteousness under God’s government.

We should Commit our Souls to the Faithful Creator who Cares for us in Love as we Suffer His Disciplinary Judgment

In 1 Pet. 4:19 we are told that, as we suffer according to the will of God, we should commit our souls to the faithful Creator, for He cares for us.

There is a suffering we may suffer of which has to do with something evil or bad that we have done; that is something else.

But when we suffer under the mighty hand of God, when we’re under His governmental judgment, we need to commit our souls in well-doing to a faithful Creator.

To commit our souls means to give in charge as a deposit.

For example, we deposit our money in the bank; we put our riches there, and the bank is entrusted with our money, while we trust the bank that they will take care of our money.

Similarly, we believers in Christ have a soul, and under the mighty hand of God we suffer much; however, as we suffer, we need to entrust God with our soul, that is, commit our souls to the faithful Creator.

We deposit ourselves, our very soul, to the faithful Creator, trusting in Him that He will care for us and preserve us.

1 Thes. 5:23 tells us that the Lord will preserve us completely – our spirit, soul, and body – at His coming; we trust in Him and we commit our souls to the faithful Creator.

God can preserve our soul, and His loving and faithful care accompanies His justice in His governmental administration.

The Lord Jesus committed His spirit to the Father (Luke 23:46); we need to commit our souls to the faithful Creator.

We need to realize that persecution can damage only our bodies as we suffer, but not our soul (Matt. 10:28).

Our soul suffers, so it needs to be kept in peace; therefore, we need to commit our souls to the faithful Creator who cares for us and who loves us.

May we cooperate with the Lord by our commitment in faith.

While God judges us in His government, He cares for us faithfully in His love; as we are suffering His disciplinary judgment, may we all commit our souls to the faithful care of our Creator (Matt. 10:28; 11:28-29).

May we come to the Lord and learn from Him, for He is meek and lowly in heart, and may we commit our souls to the faithful creator.

Just as we trust the bank to take care of our money, so we should be at peace as we entrust our God with our soul.

As we go through persecution, difficult times, trials, and God’s governmental judgment, our soul suffers and even our body may be affected.

We may be anxious of what will happen to us or to our loved ones, and we may be worried of what will become of us or of those around us.

As our soul suffers and struggles in this matter, we need to commit our souls to the faithful Creator.

We trust in Him. We rest in Him. We give Him all our restlessness and we enjoy Him as our peace.

We come to Him with our toils and burdens, and He will give us rest.

The Lord promised us that, if we come to Him with all our toils and burdens, He will give us rest for our soul.

We may be in a dire situation and our souls may be suffering due to the trials we pass through; we need to commit our souls to our faithful Creator who loves us and cares for us.

Isa. 30:15 says that in returning and rest we will be saved, and in quietness and trust will be our strength.

As we are faced with unsolvable problems, challenging situations, and much suffering, instead of becoming restless or anxious, may we learn to rest in returning to the Lord and resting in Him to be saved.

Our Creator is loving and faithful, and His loving an faithful care (1 Pet. 5:7) accompanies His justice in His governmental administration.

On the one hand, He is judging us, His household, in His government.

On the other hand, His love cares for us faithfully, and He is waiting for us to entrust our souls to the faithful Creator. How precious is this!

Lord Jesus, we commit our souls in well-doing to a faithful Creator. We open to You, Lord, and we love You. Thank You for Your loving care for us. We come to You, Lord, with all our suffering and pain; we simply commit our souls to the faithful Creator. You know us, You see what is going on in our soul, and only You can give us rest and peace in our soul. Oh Lord, our soul is so troubled and restless because of the trials and difficulties You have arranged for us to go through. We come to You with all our toils and burdens. We come to You as we are so that we may find peace and rest for our soul. Amen, Lord, we want to cooperate with You by our commitment in faith. Thank You, Lord, for caring for our souls. You understand us thoroughly – there is nothing that You do not know! You know our suffering. We commit our souls to our faithful Creator who loves us and cares for us. We return to You and rest in You. We quiet our being down and trust in You so that we may find strength. Amen, Lord, we love You!

We have Died to Sins so that we might Live to Righteousness under God’s Government

1 Pet. 2:24 tells us that Christ Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, in order that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness.

In the death of Christ we have died to sins so that in the resurrection of Christ we might live to righteousness under God’s government.

Thank the Lord that He died for us on the cross and He bore up our sins in His body on the tree. How wonderful is this!

Christ was offered as a sacrifice on the cross, on the altar; He was the ultimate and total sacrifice.

He was our sin offering offered on the altar. By one offering of Himself, all our sins are taken care of and all the negative things are dealt with. Praise the Lord!

But this is not the end; the death of Christ is not the end. In the death of Christ, we have been crucified with Him and we have died to sin, but now in His resurrection, we live to righteousness under God’s government.

Rom. 6:8 similarly says that Christ died to us so that we may no longer live to sin but to God.

Here in Peter, we are told that we live to righteousness. We live to give an account to righteousness; we live in view of righteousness.

God’s government is established upon righteousness (Psa. 89:14), and we as God’s people who live under His government must live a righteous life.

This whole world is filled with injustice and unrighteousness.

Even we ourselves as believers in Christ, as we live our daily life, many times we do unrighteousness and injustice, for so many times we live in the self and in the flesh, and in many ways we are just like the people in the world.

God has to exercise His judgment first from His house, judging all the unrighteous matters in us so that He can gain us to live to righteousness under the government of God. God wants to gain a universe in which righteousness dwells.

He does this by first judging us, those in His household, so that we may not only die to sin in Christ’s death but even more, live to Christ in the resurrection of Christ.

We thank the Lord that we are one with Christ in spirit, and we have die to sin in His death.

We now can live to righteousness in his resurrection.

This expression, live to righteousness, is related to the fulfilment of God’s governmental requirements.

We were saved so that we might live rightly under the government of God, that is, in a way that matches the righteous requirements of His government. Hallelujah!

In Christ’s death, we have been separated from sins, and in His resurrection, we have been enlivened so that in our Christian life we might live spontaneously to righteousness under the government of God (Rom. 6:8, 10-11, 18; Eph. 2:6; John 14:19; 2 Tim. 2:11). Amen!

And the way this takes place practically and subjectively is by means of the Spirit with our spirit.

The subjective aspect of the cross continues in our experience today by means of the Spirit with our spirit.

As we exercise our spirit to contact the Lord, the Spirit applies the death of Christ to our being, and as we live according to the mingled spirit, the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us (Rom. 8:4). Amen!

Thank the Lord that the life-giving Spirit is working within us continually to carry out the subjective aspect of Christ’s cross in our being! Hallelujah!

We are daily undergoing the inward working of the cross, and at the same time, we are being made alive so that we may live to righteousness.

What does it mean to live to righteousness, especially as we live a Christian life under the government of God?

It is to live a life that spontaneously fulfils God’s governmental requirements related to His righteousness; it is to live in righteousness and be right to God in all things.

On the one hand, we need to continually commit all things to the One who judges righteously, even as the Lord Jesus did (1 Pet. 2:23).

On the other hand, we need to live to righteousness (v. 24).

This is why we were saved – to live a life that matches the righteous requirements of God’s government. God is righteous; He judges us in His government so that we may partake of His holiness and so that we may live to righteousness.

Even as He is, so we will be; even as He is holy and righteous, He is judging us and supplying us so that we may be as holy as He is and as righteous as He is.

As those living under His government, we need to live a righteous life; we do this not in ourselves but by living in the mingled spirit so that Christ may live in us a life that matches God’s righteous requirements.

Lord Jesus, cause us to see that in the death of Christ we have died to sins so that in the resurrection of Christ we might live to righteousness under God’s government! Thank You, Lord, for bearing our sins up on the cross and terminating us through Your death so that we may be kept away from sin! Praise the Lord, we have been crucified with Christ so that we may no longer live to sin but live to righteousness! Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit to contact You as the Spirit today. Operate in us to continually carry out the subjective aspect of Christ’s cross in our being and to make us alive so that we may live to righteousness. Hallelujah, we were saved so that we might live rightly under the government of God! Amen, Lord, we want to live to righteousness today, living in a way that matches the righteous requirements of Your government. We open to You and we exercise our spirit so that the life-giving Spirit with our spirit may apply the death and resurrection of Christ to our being daily. May we live Christ today, always having an inclination toward righteousness. Amen, Lord, make us the same as You are – holy and righteous!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother James Lee in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 Peter, msgs. 21 and 29, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living a Christian Life and Church Life under the Government of God for the Economy of God (2024 Thanksgiving Blending Conference), week 2, Living a Christian Life under the Government of God.
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• Hymns on this topic:
  – That Thou might show Thy righteousness, / With Thy forgiveness Thou didst bless / Men in the ancient age; / For Thee Thy righteousness to show, / Remission Thou dost now bestow / On sinners in this age. / All people Thou wilt judge one day, / Thy righteousness to all display / By Christ, Thy Son, our Lord; / Yet fast we’ll stand, for none can move, / Thy righteousness we’ll ever prove, / With grace Thou wilt afford. / With justice is Thy kingdom filled, / And peace upon it Thou dost build / With all in harmony; / In the new heaven and new earth / Thy righteousness will be their worth, / As promised, God, by Thee. (Hymns #21 stanzas 4-6)
  – Holy Father, we adore Thee, / Rev’rent song to Thee we raise; / Thou art holy, Thou art lofty, / “Holy is Thy Name,” we praise. / Loving is Thy heart, dear Father, / Righteous ever are Thy ways; / But how holy is Thy nature, / Yet, to us Christ it conveys. (Hymns #22 stanzas 1-2)
  – Thy Holy Spirit deep within / Supplies Thyself as righteousness, / As holiness, redemption full, / As wisdom and as fruitfulness. / Thy Spirit in my spirit now / Supplies Thyself, unites with me, / Thus I am all the time myself / And constantly am also Thee. (Hymns #491 stanzas 6-7)