I Peter 3: 8-12
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!
I Peter 3: 1-7
In the same way, you wives, be subject to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the Word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives,
as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior.
Your adornment must not be merely external--braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses;
but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.
For in this way in former times the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands;
just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear.
You husbands, in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the Grace of Life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.
Paul also wrote about the relationship between husbands and wives, in Ephesians 6:22-33 which I talked about last month.
Both Paul and Peter had a good understanding of the marital relationships, so we are to learn from both of them.
Here Peter tackles the problem of a Christian wife who is married to a lost husband. Peter says he's disobedient to the Word which simply means he's not realized yet that Jesus is his personal Sacrifice.
If the wife has the habit of throwing Scripture in his face, she will only drive him farther from the Lord. A better method is to work on herself, in developing a gentle and quiet spirit within herself, which is precious in the sight of God and will also go a long way toward tranquility in the home, and draw (not push) her husband toward the Lord.
Our example is the Old Testament women, who let their husbands have authority over them, Sarah calling her husband, Abraham, her boss (lord).
We wives should not be afraid of submitting to our own husbands, but to let the Lord steady us in our responses, considering the order of authority God has placed us under. Fear makes people do stuff they would not otherwise, negative and harmful stuff. So trust the Lord's order and do right.
Then Peter turns to the husbands. In the same way both wives and husbands, and slaves and masters and all the other relationships we have with one another, are to be lived out according to the principle of Love that God based all the Law and precepts and rules and ordinances on. We all are to love one another.
This is how husbands can do that.
My late husband was studying these verses one morning, and he received an understanding that the weaker vessel that the woman is, didn't mean she is inferior or less than the man, but that she is a delicate china cup compared to his unbreakable tin cup. He was to see me as fragile, and take gentle care of me as his wife.
This is a good attitude to take. China cups have a high value, and must be handled with care, not banged around like a tin cup.
I don't think that husbands should be banged around, or that their worth is less than the wife, but for a husband to take this view of his wife will help him to care for her with the respect and gentleness that she will respond to. And, Husband, if you have ever found that your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling, then look at how you've been treating your wife.
The husband has the greater responsibility to God as the head over his wife and household, and the wife has the responsibility to set the tone, the temperature of the household under him. She is the thermostat that determines if the home will be a sanctuary or a battleground.
It's the husband who provides the home, and the wife who brings order in the home. They must work together. Even if their roles overlap, they still both need to remember God's ways in their household doings. And if there are children, they will also benefit.
O my Father, You are so great. Your Love is so immense. You have Loved Your creation in giving it order, and You have Loved us so much that You have sacrificed Your very Best for us to be able to live with You!
Father, help us all to learn Your ways to put order into the chaos that our families are experiencing today. Father, the enemy has been working relentlessly for so long to destroy the order in our families. He has complicated Your beautiful simplicity, and members of these families are suffering, having lost the stability that home life is to provide.
O Father, please help us! Our society has run so far from Your ideal. And the members of our society are foundering in this morass of confusion, entangled in the snares of the enemy's lies. They are so deceived that they have turned the World upside down, calling darkness light, evil good, and complicated easy.
Father, help Your children who know You and Your ways, to be strengthened in our society. As a vocal minority, help us to correct these wrongs, straighten these crooked paths, and bring a little order to the great confusion we face. Protect Your children from the enemy's attacks as we go about untangling the complexities he has tangled us up in as a Nation.
And, Father, show us how to live in our families. Teach us Your ways of relating to one another especially in the most intimate of our lives, in our homes with our husband or wife and our children.
You have designed it all to work and operate smoothly, as Your Universe runs so faithfully. When Your Law is obeyed, it all goes so well for us, too. No one complains about having to obey Your Natural Laws, like Gravity. It's just understood, because to disobey brings immediate consequences.
Your Moral Laws are just as immutable as Your Natural Laws. They are all Your Laws. None of them can be broken, only transgressed. Our problem is that, because the consequences are not as immediately obvious, we have believed the lie that it's all right to disobey Your Moral Laws, it will work itself out. So we have persisted in our error, sliding ever deeper into the swamp of deception.
O Father, when I see this World careening out-of-control, I know that it is still on Your string, and at the right Time, Father, You will just flick Your finger and bring it all back to Yourself like a yo-yo.
King Jesus will return, call out His own, and destroy all the wicked Nations at the Battle of Armageddon, and set up His Kingdom. And all the knots will be untied, all the tangles will be combed out, and all the confusion will be banished. The simplicity of Your Law will finally prevail. To our benefit and prosperity, and Your glory.
And every eye will see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will proclaim that King Jesus is Lord over all Creation, to the glory of God the Father.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Peter 2: 18-25
Servants,
This is addressed to slaves, but this can also be to all of us. We may not be slaves, but we may have a job working for a boss. Or even if we're self-employed or retired or otherwise, we are still to be servants to one another.
be subject to your masters with all respect,
Respect is something we really need to get back into our societies. As peoples we have focused so much on ourselves that we have lost that respect and admiration that is due to others of our race of Man, made in God's image.
not only to those who are good and gentle,
Of course we'll be nice to our friends who like us.
but also to those who are unreasonable.
How nice will we be to those who insult us or try to take advantage of us? Or maybe they just don't like us for some personal reason of their own?
For this finds favor,
Responding positively to a negative provocation is praiseworthy.
if for the sake of conscience toward God
It is our responsibility in God's eyes that we would be focused on.
a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.
When we maintain our joy of the Lord and love for one another even when in the middle of an argument or trouble caused by someone else.
For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience?
If you know you're in the wrong and admit it, you really haven't gained much, since you were wrong. It's only honest to admit it.
But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.
But if you were in the right, and someone is slandering you or picking on you, or otherwise making your life miserable, and you don't strike back or get upset and let it ruin your day; that shows that you're leaning on God, and not just your own resources.
For you have been called to this purpose,
This is the kind of life God calls us to, to depend on the strength if His Spirit in us to maintain our equilibrium when our world is tilting and twirling around us.
since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,
Jesus lived His life so graciously and generously, everyone loved Him, the children even flocked to Him; and yet He was tortured and executed as though He was a criminal. But He did not answer back or retort, but patiently took the mistreatment without complaint. For us, because we do deserve it.
Who
committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth (Isaiah 53:9);
and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;
Isaiah had said that He would not have anything about Himself that would bring on the treatment He received; and while being mistreated, instead of lashing out at His torturers, He turned His attention upward, drawing strength to endure from His Father.
And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the Cross,
Here it's laid right out--Jesus took our place in death as our personal Sacrifice, the Lamb who took the penitent's punishment in payment for his sins, on His altar, the Cross.
so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness;
for by His wounds you were healed (Isaiah 53:5).
Because He died in our place, it's like we died there, so now we need to live as though we are dead to sin, not vulnerable to caving in to temptations like before; and able to choose the better, right choice, to do what is righteous and good.
Because He was wounded, we can be healed. We can see this in both a spiritual way and in a physical way. He physically was mortally wounded in our place, so when our bodies are in an injured or diseased condition, we may be healed physically.
We can always see this in a spiritual way, because His Blood sprinkled on the sides of the Cross, actually does wash us totally clean of every sin, every stain of sin, every shadow of a stain of sin--as though we'd never sinned at all. He cleanses us to be pristine, perfectly pure, so we're fit to live with Him in Heaven. This is the only way we would be able to live in His very presence where He lives, without being immolated by His Holiness.
For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.
Before we were saved, we constantly wandered off into various and sundry far fields, crags and ravines, "looking for love in all the wrong places." Completely lost, with no idea of what direction to go in. I know I was.
But I wanted to know the Truth. I knew there was something that I could trust to be reliable, so I could believe it. I didn't realize it, but I was looking for God, for Jesus. He is the Truth, and God is Love.
So when I got to the end of my searching, God was there! And He changed everything for me. Nothing around me changed, but He gave me new eyes, and I saw everything differently!
Since that day, I have been learning and growing in knowledge of God and His ways and who I am to Him. And I don't need to react to negative provocations like I did before. Sometimes I can even pause to remember that God's Spirit in me is tempering me, and I can reflect on how my response will be received by the hearer! I pray that I will get better at that.
O my Father, You are so good to all of us! Even though we are Your enemies, criminals who deserve to be executed, You Loved us and sent Your own Son to take Your wrath upon Himself that was due us!
We know how fierce Your wrath is, because You had recorded for our benefit how You destroyed whole societies who were destroying themselves in their rebellion against You. And how Your Son suffered. He didn't deserve any of it, we do; I do.
So because He took my death upon Himself, He gave me His Life! Both spiritual and physical. Now I can live my life alive! Now I can be aware of all Your blessings and gifts and provisions for everything I'll ever need. And I can avail myself of all the good health and material bounty You placed in this Earth for us to enjoy, as well as the emotional and spiritual well-being that You have given me in Your Holy Spirit of Life.
Father, help me to continue to get better at doing the good things You are teaching me to do. Strengthen me to continue to practice these attitudes and skills in all that I do each day. I know I have a long road ahead of me in these things, and I ask that You grant me the time to perfect my abilities to bless others and scatter Your good Seed, and to be a blessing to other people who are in my little world.
Enlarge my borders, that my world will include more and more who can benefit from Your blessings flowing through Your children.
Father, Jesus said that, This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the World for a witness unto all Nations; and then shall the end come (Matthew 24:14).
You want every person to hear and understand and have the opportunity to make an informed decision to accept or reject Your offer to them. You are not willing for any to perish, You love us too much for that. You want all to come to the repentance of admitting their culpability, and turn to You through Jesus.
Not all will, and You know this, too, but You will still give them the window of opportunity.
Father, send Your workers into Your fields that are ripe unto the harvest, and strengthen them and all Your children who are facing opposition and persecution.
Our enemy knows that his time is short, and is furiously at work killing, stealing, lying, deceiving, twisting, and in every way destroying the good You have done for us, and will attack every righteous thing to try to tear it down.
But He who is in us is so much greater than he that is in the World, and in His power and strength we will storm the very gates of Hell in taking back Your good for the promotion of Your Kingdom in us.
And soon You will send Your Son back into this realm, to finally defeat all the enemies, and set up His Kingdom here on this Earth, and we will finally have our Golden Age for that thousand years!
And every knee will bow in obeisance to Christ Jesus, our Sovereign King and Lord over all Creation, to the glory of God the Father!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Peter 2: 13-17
Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution,
We are to recognize the order of authority that God designed this race of Mankind to operate by, giving order to our relationships. This honors our Lord who decreed it so because He loves us, and doesn't want us to suffer in chaos.
whether to a king as the one in authority,
Whoever is at the top, whether a king, a president, a premier, a chief; whatever title your society gives to the one who has highest authority. We are to respect the office, even if we don't happen to like the person who holds the title.
or to governors as sent by him
These are all the other governmental entities who answer to their higher authority; the legislators, the governors, the judges, the law enforcement officers; everyone else who has authority to tell us what to do or not do, according to the laws of the land.
for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.
Their duties are two-fold, both negative and positive. We incarcerate criminals and we fine transgressors. We also give medals and awards to exceptional individuals who have given of themselves to benefit others.
For such is the will of God
We often ask, "What is God's will?" Well, we have it right here for this.
that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.
Good always wins over evil, and whatever is going on around us, whether the people in our little worlds are supporting us or working against us, we must still focus on the right, to do what is good and morally right and beneficial for us all. We must shine our light, which is the Light of the Holy Spirit in us, because light always overpowers darkness, chasing it away.
Act as free men,
We must not be co-dependent with others, but make the right decision to do what is right, independent of all the evil that is still rising all around us.
and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil,
This is a temptation, knowing we're not like everyone else, to think we're better or not subject to the same rules they are because of our position in Christ. We were just told to submit to all the same laws and rules and precepts that everyone else is to obey, so even if we don't agree, we are still to comply with every rule that doesn't actually go against God's laws. Even if it's inconvenient.
but use it as bondslaves of God.
We are to act as servants of the highest righteousness. In the society this letter was written to, the position of a "bondslave" was the lowest rung of the ladder. Bondslaves had no will of their own, but were bound to the will of their master.
We are bound to the will of our good Father in Heaven, and are to conform our wills to what He wants for us, trusting that His Love will permit only what is good for us, and to our benefit.
Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.
This sums up this whole paragraph. We are to honor all people, because we are all made in the image of God. It doesn't matter that some people have twisted and marred that image, God still loves them as He has loved us, and wants them to be saved.
We are to love the brotherhood, to want what will benefit our brothers and sisters in the Lord the most, regardless of what it will cost us.
We are to fear God, be sure to give God the reverential respect He deserves as our Master and Lord, our Owner and our Teacher. And remember He is also our Father and Brother and Bridegroom.
And honor the king, who represents the whole structure of human governmental authority over us, that gives order to our society and makes it possible for us to live our lives in quietness and peace, honestly expressing the godliness God is building in us, because that is how He wants us to live our lives (I Timothy 2:2-3).
O my Father, Your plans are so good! Your design of this Universe, and the Earth You made for us, are all so beautiful and runs so smoothly, like a well-oiled machine. And Your Spirit is the oil!
But we humans have gathered into our communities and formed our societies, vulnerable to the schemes of the enemy who only wants to kill, steal, and destroy. So many of the parts of our living together here have become twisted and turned upside-down, so much so that many think that it is "normal." And the pressure on Your children can be very great to conform to the World's ways.
But, Father, You want us to be the salt in our society. You want us to be the Light, revealing and curing and healing the rotten places that harm us as a society. This takes Your strength, when the World pushes against us.
Father, when we feel like we're storming the very gates of Hell, may we be wearing Your armor, wielding Your weapons, faithfully, in the strength and courage of Your Spirit. And when all is done, we will be standing!
O Father, keep us standing, though we are battle-scarred. Our Lord, our Commander-in Chief, bears the scars of His victory! My we also bear our scars proudly, in the confidence of Your victory through us!
O Father, my Father, hold us in Your hand! Strengthen all of Your children, find all Your lost sheep, gather us all into Your One Fold with One Shepherd.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Peter 2: 11-12
Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers
We are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, so we are not to consider ourselves as "at home" here any more.
to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.
All the stuff we want here in this life. When we make it a priority to accumulate possessions or notoriety in this World, that goes against our quest of spiritual benefits. It's a constant tug-of-war, or all out war we must wage against everything that pulls us away from loving the Lord and following in His ways.
Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles,
As Christians we live in glass houses; every detail of our lives is examined by those around us in the World, so we must be careful to not give them any ammunition to shoot us.
so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers,
For example, these days whenever we speak the Truth we are accused of being hateful.
they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them,
We must continue to live our lives righteously, doing the good things we do as children of God, and they see these things, even though they don't acknowledge them now.
glorify God in the Day of Visitation.
The Day of Visitation is the Day that Jesus returns to set up His Kingdom here. Then the Truth of our lives will be known to all. And God will receive the credit.
No matter what the World is doing around us, we must remain focused on our Lord and take care to walk in His path every moment of every day.
Because the World is watching. And we gain the victory through the Blood of the Lamb and the word of our own testimony of what Jesus has done for us (Revelation 12:11).
O my Father, please help us remember that others are always watching us, because we are Your children, and our enemy wants to discredit us in any way he can. Keep us mindful, Father, that we are to reflect Your character, in what we do and say.
So let us continually be thinking Your thoughts, Father. Let us see others as You see them, so that we will have Your compassion for them, and Your patience with them. Let us not take their insults personally, but remember how much You love them.
O Father, You don't want even one to perish, but you want everyone to come to You in repentance and faith. Even though most won't. But every person who wants You, You will draw to Yourself and grant them the gift of faith.
Father, send out Your workers to gather Your lost sheep. Let every one of them be found and carried into the safety and comfort of the fold; and there will be One Fold and One Shepherd!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Peter 2: 4-10
And coming to Him as to a living Stone
Jesus Christ is the Living Stone that gave Moses water in the Desert for the Israelites; it followed them in their wanderings (I Corinthians 10:4).
which has been rejected by men,
Most people in the World will not turn to Him, but rather turn to the World and themselves instead; His own people turned Him over to execution as a criminal.
but is choice and precious in the sight of God,
He is God's own Son, greatly beloved and treasured.
you also, as living stones,
As Christians, "little Christs," we are His sisters and brothers, also living stones.
are being built up as a spiritual house
God is building us as His own Heavenly Temple.
for a holy priesthood,
We are living, so we are not only the Temple, but also the Priests of the Temple.
to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Spiritual sacrifices are sacrifices of praise and the good works we do in the power of the Spirit, and to tell of the goodness of the Lord (Hebrews 13:15-16).
For this is contained in Scripture:
Behold, I lay in Zion a choice Stone, a precious Corner Stone, and he who believes in Him will not be disappointed (Isaiah 28:16).
Jesus is the anchoring Corner Stone of the Heavenly Temple, the Rock upon which our Father has placed our feet out of the miry clay, the Stone from which the stature of the whole Heavenly Building takes its shape and form.
This precious value, then, is for you who believe;
We who have put our trust in Christ as our Sacrifice for sin and rose from the dead. We now partake of His riches in Heaven, the glory He left to come to Earth. But our real Prize is Jesus, Himself, not what He will give us to enjoy.
but for those who disbelieve,
Those who refuse to humble themselves before His majesty and authority.
The Stone which the builders rejected, this became the very Corner Stone (Isaiah 28:16),
The One they refused to believe, has become the very basis and pinnacle of existence and Life.
and,
A Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offense (Isaiah 8:14).
This One is offensive to them, they trip over Him in their rush after things that will never satisfy.
For they stumble because they are disobedient to the Word,
They refuse to obey His rules or think reasonably, or cooperate with the Love principle upon which God set this Universe to run and work and operate.
and to this doom they were also appointed.
God decided before Creation that those who chose their own will would be given their own will; when they choose to reject Light, He will grant them darkness; when they decide to hate, God will give them the hatred they want; when they refuse order, He will allow them chaos.
But you are a chosen race,
Born into His family, we are a people who belong to Him.
a royal priesthood,
His princes and princesses who offer Him spiritual sacrifices.
a holy nation,
God made Abraham into the Nation Israel, and He is making us into His own Nation.
a people for God's own possession,
We are a people-group that God takes particular ownership over.
so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him
It is up to us to lead the worship of our Lord God Almighty.
who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous Light;
We were trapped in the darkness of sin, then He released the trap and led us out into the Sunshine of His Grace.
For you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God;
We come from many different and varied nations, but we have become the Nation of God.
you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Before we were saved, we had no hope. There was nothing we could do to help ourselves; everything we did, even the best most altruistic things, were still polluted by the sin that we were born in, that we inherit from Adam--that damaged DNA.
But now we have experienced the great mercy of God that put His wrath that we deserve on Jesus instead, on His Cross. Now that Jesus has cleared our debt, God can now extend His grace to give us the wonderful bounty of His riches in Christ.
O my Father, You have taken us out of the slave-market of sin and elevated us into positions of authority and leadership in Your own Kingdom! From one extreme to the other! And in between, You have washed us clean, pristine, as though we'd never sinned at all! And You are leading us along the narrow path for each of us, keeping us on the path, hedging us in; that we will not wander or veer off to the right or to the left. We will not miss the right way, because You have laid it out for us before us.
And Your Word is the lamp for our feet that shows us each step to take, so that we can confidently proceed in Your footsteps, not running ahead or lagging behind; right on Your schedule.
Father, You are never too early, nor are You ever late. When it seems to us that You are taking too much time to answer our prayers, we know that Your answer will be just in time.
You are taking the time we need to grow, to learn, to accomplish all the good works that You planned ahead of time for us to do. And everything will be ready for the Glorious Appearing of our King, Christ Jesus, our Lord.
O Father, find the rest of Your sheep. Locate and send Your under-shepherds out to find and rescue every one of Your little lost lambs, that not one will be lost, but that all will be gathered into the comfort and safety of Your fold. And there will be one Fold and one Shepherd.
O how grand, how magnificent, how glorious You are my Father! That You have planned such honor and such respect would be given Your children by Your holy Angels, and the fallen angels, and every created being.
We who could never deserve anything but Your wrath. Instead we who were the tail will be the head. Your ways, Father, are so beyond our ways! You are good, much better than we can ever imagine.
And every eye will see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess in every language, that Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Man, is the Lord God Almighty over the Universe, and our Magnificent, Sovereign King over all the World; to the glory of God the Father!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Peter 2: 1-3
Therefore
Taking note of the teachings of the whole first chapter.
putting aside all malice
"Malice" is desiring to inflict injury, harm or suffering on another; meanness. Let's not do this any more.
and all deceit
This is concealing the Truth in order to mislead; fraud; cheating. This is never appropriate for a child of the King.
and hypocrisy
This word comes from "actor" and has come to mean a pretender, one who gives a pretense of being what he is not; of having good character when he does not possess the virtue he is pretending to have.
and envy
"Envy" is wanting what someone else has. People confuse it with "jealousy," which is a fear of losing what one has. God is a jealous God, and will not give His glory to another to be replaced by any other god.
We are to be content with what we have, and rejoice with others in what they have, not envy them.
and all slander,
This is to spread malicious untrue stories about someone, to tear down their character with lies.
As newborn babies,
One may be advanced in years, yet still a babe in spiritual matters.
long for the pure milk of the Word,
Milk is the "first food" of a newborn child, after the colostrum. This is the "perfect food" that provides all the nourishment the baby needs in order to grow. The pure milk of the Word would be the basic, fundamental Truths of who God is, what Jesus accomplished, and who we are in Him.
When we have an adequate understanding of these concepts, then we can go on to other things. But these are basic, and all the other teachings depend on these.
that by it you may grow in respect to Salvation,
We need to learn these first things so that we will be able to grow up spiritually into adults in God's family and in His Kingdom. We must prepare in order to eventually rule.
If you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.
If you have experienced the kindness, the graciousness of the Lord, in His having taken Your death upon Himself in your place, so that you could live with Him.
Peter says, "if." Because if you have not taken that first step, to realize that you deserve execution as a criminal because of your own sins, and that Jesus died for you; then you might as well just close the book, because you won't be able to understand the rest.
These smallest words may be the heaviest. "If." A tiny word. But with so much importance. It conveys doubt. "Since" would be "because of," assuming the salvation of the readers. But "if" conveys a wondering whether the hearers of this letter really do know the Lord.
So we must examine our own hearts and motives and understandings. Peter doesn't accuse here, he just throws out that "if" to encourage each one to examine himself. God only knows another person's heart. We are all responsible for our own thinking processes and desires, which result in what we do.
So if anyone has a problem with malice, or deceit, or hypocrisy, or envy, or slanderous gossip; then, by all means, get this settled with the Lord, in the privacy of your own heart, and ask for forgiveness and strength to do better. And if anyone else was harmed or hurt, then make amends. Get it right. Make it right.
O my Father, please help us to know ourselves. Our own hearts lie to us, and we are vulnerable to the attacks of the World and our enemy and his minions. Keep us aware of our own weaknesses, and rely on You for Your strength. Enable us to help one another, in a positive mode to build up, and not negatively blaming or accusing.
Give us eyes to see one another as You see us, Father. So that we will recognize Your image stamped upon each other, and encourage one another in our knowledge of You and our walk with You in our individual paths.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
