18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Paul said it this way in Romans 12 :14-21īless those who persecute you bless and do not curse them. We are free to love our enemies, because we know God is just. We trust that what God said is true in Deuteronomy 32:34-36.įor the day of their calamity is at hand,ģ6 For the Lord will vindicate his peopleĪnd there is none remaining, bond or free. We respond like our Lord and we love them. But that is not who we are we are children of the Living God who made us and made them, who loves us and loves them. They cheer one another on to imagine ways they can hurt the person who hurt them. When someone in the world is abused, they console each other not with love but with vengeance and hate. It is together that we can encourage one another and exhort each other to respond with the Spirit of Christ, the fruit He brings out in us, and the love He has perfected in us. 10 Forġ1 let him turn away from evil and do good ġ2 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,īut the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” 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. Verses 8-12 readsįinally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. The walk never has to be us slogging through the mire, we walk together with our eyes focused on Jesus above the sludge and our feet on the water. You have your brothers and sisters in Christ. Remember Believer, you are not alone, you have your Father, Redeemer, and Comforter with you. Sometimes our walk can feel like a trudge with grueling step after grueling step. I know we all go through difficult and arduous times. Throughout his letter, Peter has both encouraged the church, reminding them that their home is not here on earth, but in Heaven, in the kingdom of God, and exhorted them to behave as God’s chosen people even through their terrible circumstances. These people, our brothers and sisters before us were subjected to animosity in their new homes, but it was at least not what they had experienced under Nero, whose loathing of this strange sect called Christians was so extreme that he dreamt up new and terrible ways to kill them. It encourages us to remember to whom Peter is writing he is writing to exiles of the Dispersion, persecution from Nero, persecution from governors, and from the many who had accepted that hatred of Christians was a good and acceptable prejudice. Today we read 1 Peter 3:8-22 in our Bible devotional.
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