1
Peter 3:7-22English Standard Version (ESV)
7 Likewise, husbands, live with your wives
in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since
they are heirs with you[a] of the grace of
life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.
8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind,
sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or
reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called,
that you may obtain a blessing. 10 For
“Whoever
desires to love life
and see good days,
let him keep
his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit;
11 let him turn away from evil and do
good;
let him seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the
righteous,
and his ears are open to their prayer.
But
the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
13 Now who is there to harm you if you are
zealous for what is good? 14 But
even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no
fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but
in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a
defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do
it with gentleness and respect, 16 having
a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good
behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For
it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for
doing evil.
18 For Christ also suffered[b] once for sins, the righteous for the
unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but
made alive in the spirit, 19 in
which[c] he went and proclaimed[d] to the spirits in prison, 20 because[e] they formerly did not obey, when God's patience
waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few,
that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to
this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to
God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and
is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been
subjected to him.
Do you ever
wonder why God puts such an emphasis on unity?
Why He based five of His ten commandments on getting along with
others? It has been very evident to me
over the past month. In the last post I
spoke of how we as wives need to treat and respect our husbands. I am not an authority on telling husbands how
they should treat their wives, however, the Bible is. The first words of today’s scripture is “likewise”. It all ties together, how we treat those in
authority, how we are treated by those in authority, how we respond to false or
clouded judgments all relates to how Christ did.
All of this
getting along will support us when times get tough. Can you imagine how Jesus would have felt if
His friends would have simply stayed awake and prayed with Him? I know that I feel so much better when I know
that friends are praying for me when trials and tribulations come my way. It is one thing for people to say they are
praying for you and another to actually hear that prayer, hear their
encouragement and know that they are not judging you in anyway but merely
loving you.
It has become
more and more evident to me that even when we do right or try to do right,
there will be those who will find fault in us.
There will be those who believe we are evil because they are evil. By evil, I mean they do not know The Lord
their God and are direct enemies of the cross.
How do we combat this evil? The
Bible tells us to not repay evil with evil. Yes, we have a right to be heard, to stand our
ground but we need to revert back to what the scripture says, we need to do it with
gentleness and self-control.
When we stop
and look at how Jesus tried to handle the torment that He was about to endure
and that He endured, we see that He first turned to God and He also asked His friends
for their support. He then faced the
accuser, giving no defensive for His alleged crime except by answering the
questions with, “it is as you say”. Jesus
could have gone in and pointed out how He was wrongly accused and could have
given a defense for His greatness. He
had helped so many people and could have pointed out that these men were just
jealous and self-righteous. He let them
destroy Him and then He defeated them through His resurrection power.
This may at
first appear to some as a sign of great weakness but in actuality it is a sign
of great power. We can have that power
through the blood of Jesus Christ and His resurrection, if only we would trust
fully in Him. As I write today, I
struggle with life, with people, with being wrongly accused but I know, in my
head, that I have the power to overcome through the One that overcame. Maybe you feel much the same as I do or maybe
life has given you much pleasure, whichever it may be, know that God is in
control and He has things wrapped up in the palm of His hand. Seek Him and know that He is God.
Seeking Him
with all my heart,
Sheila
No comments:
Post a Comment