#DailyDevotion Living Out Christ Life In Our Lives
1 Peter 3:8-15 8Finally, all of you, live in harmony, be sympathetic, love your fellow Christians, be tenderhearted and humble. 9Don’t pay back evil for evil, insult for insult, but bless others instead, knowing that you were called for this, to inherit a blessing. 10If you want to love life and enjoy happy days, stop speaking evil or saying anything to deceive. 11Turn away from wrong and do good. Be eager for peace and go after it. 12The Lord watches the righteous and hears their prayer, but the Lord is against those who do wrong. 13Who will harm you if you’re eager to do good? 14But even if you suffer because you’re righteous, you are happy. Never let others terrify or trouble you. 15But give your hearts completely to Christ as Lord. And always be ready to answer anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have, but be gentle and respectful.
Like in many of Paul’s letters, after addressing whatever issues they may have been having and explaining the good news of Jesus, there is a section on how to live out one’s faith in Jesus and the good news in Peter’s letter here. We are called to live in harmony with our fellow Christian and be of one mind with them and Christ. Not always easy to do. But if the disagreement isn’t over doctrine, how important is it? Will it make it into the kingdom of God? No? Not that important. Let they other person have their way. We are called to be sympathetic with our fellow Christians. What does St. Paul say? “When one part of the body rejoices the whole body rejoices and one part is sad, the whole body is sad.” As Christ gave us the command to love our fellow Christian as he has loved us, so Peter tells us to do that being tenderhearted and humble.
We are not called to pay back evil for evil or get revenge. That is not the way of Jesus. When people insult us, hurt us, when they lie about us or anything else, we are called to bless them instead. Yes, ask the LORD of heaven to give and do all good things to them, to do for them what will make them happy. Seriously give it a try. In a couple of weeks you will certainly feel better. On top of that, you were called to inherit a blessing. So what if they make your life feel like a curse. It is only a short time. Did not Jesus and Stephen pray that God would forgive those who sinned against them by killing them?
If you want to love life and enjoy good days, don’t speak evil or lie. Turn from doing wrong and do good instead. Be eager for peace and go after it. It often is difficult at first and sometime we still stumble into it because of the weakness of our flesh but the more often you apply yourself to it the easier it will become. You will love life more and enjoy your days if you follow Peter’s advice here. Most of the time no one will want to harm you if you are doing good, but if you do experience suffering for it, you are blessed by God to suffer with Christ. We belong to Christ and have an eternal inheritance no one can take from us. If we keep our eyes on Christ Jesus and the reward he promises us, then we won’t be terrified or afraid of what others threaten us with.
Finally, we are to keep Christ Jesus holy, sanctified, in our hearts. Have him be the Lord of your life. That is, trusting in him and his promises, let them rule your life in every aspect. We are not Christians first or Christians and. We are Christians(.) So be prepared to give an answer about the faith in your heart with gentleness and respect. So pay attention to the service, the sermons, go to bible study and do devotions at home to be filled with the Word.
Merciful God and Father, as you have separated Christ to be the sacrifice for our sins, give us your Spirit so we may have Christ as Lord of our hearts and live his life in ours. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.