Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another, love one another as brothers, being kindhearted, courteous and humble in spirit;
not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you should inherit a blessing.
For,
He that will love life, and see good days, must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. He must turn away from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and His ears attend to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil (Psalm 34:12-16).Peter is saying that we are to live together as a family. You may wrestle with your brother, but if anyone says anything against him, you spring to his defense. It is this family affection that we are to have for one another in Christ.
And if someone slanders you or insults you, don't react in kind, but consider how to give them a blessing instead, how you can do something that will benefit them, or show them God's Love for them.
God sent His Son to Redeem us so that He could bless us. So our lives should be lives of blessing others.
Then Peter quotes the Psalm to show that God always did want us to live good lives of prosperity and blessing, and when we appreciate the life God gives us and enjoy the good things He gives us, then we also should watch our words.
We need to keep a guard on our tongue, so that we won't say what is negative or detrimental to or about someone else, even if they have spoken evil of us.
Words are very powerful. God spoke and created. We speak, and we can build up or destroy. This is a very heavy responsibility God has placed on our shoulders, that we should not take lightly. Jesus said that He will call to account every careless word we utter (Matthew 12:36-37).
We are to seek peace: not just the cessation of hostilities, but genuine friendship, and to pursue this, go after it. God goes after us when we're running away from Him, and He wants us to go after those who are harming themselves by their words and lifestyles.
God is watching all that we're doing, because He wants to reward us for all the things He enables us to do and say, and He delights in answering our prayers.
And He also sees all the things people do against us, against Him. They can't see Him to push, so they push against us instead, because we are His.
O Father, please help Your children to watch our words. You know how easy it is to let out an unsavory expression, or to repeat something unfavorable about someone else. There is a perverse pleasure in tearing down another person in order to build ourselves up, but deliver Your children from this dangerous precipice. We ought to do better, and You have given us Your Spirit to teach us how.
Father, show us how to call out the evil that others are doing without condemning the people who are doing them. Show us how to love these people into Your Kingdom, and Your Name will be exalted in them.
And those who refuse to acknowledge You and persist in their rebellion, You will allow to have their own will, away from all Light and Love and Goodness, which is You. Away from all comfort and well-being and pleasantness. It's not what You want for them, for you are not willing that any should perish, but You will not force Yourself on them, You don't want puppets.
And Father, You will make up for everything they have taken from or done to Your children, ten times and more. No matter what we suffer now, no matter what we need to give up, it will mean nothing in comparison to what You have prepared for us to enjoy.
And the real Prize we look toward is being able to live with Jesus, our King and our Brother and our Bridegroom. That everlasting Honeymoon will be Heaven for each of us.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
