Category: 1 Peter

Take a moment to read 1 Peter 2:21-25 and Isaiah 53 before reading the devotional below. 

Have you ever wondered about your calling in life? Perhaps you’ve prayed for God to reveal his will for your life. Today’s verses give us one example of clear calling that we should not dismiss merely because it is not written in the sky with our name attached. Peter tells us that God has called us to two key spiritual acts: do good and follow Jesus’ example no matter what.

In our culture, suffering is something we tend to avoid at all costs. Most commercials and products are about ways to end any kind of even minor suffering. The Bible is the opposite. Suffering is something that brings us closer to the example of Jesus as we give up comfort to enable others to gain freedom. We patiently endure while clinging to our faith and hope. And in case we have forgotten just exactly what Christ’s example was, Peter references Isaiah 53 to explain: Jesus willingly gave his life for your sins.

Here’s your freedom for today: Jesus considers you worth dying for.  He left his own life in God’s hands and personally carried our sins all the way to the cross. This act of suffering and sacrifice is what makes your freedom possible today. You get to live a life in the right direction. If we were each to follow Christ’s example today, who might experience freedom too? How could we make a difference if we followed our calling to do good and to be like Jesus?

“In the same way, you wives must accept the authority of your husbands. Then, even if some refuse to obey the Good News, your godly lives will speak to them without any words. They will be won over by observing your pure and reverent lives.”

Since we just finished wading through verses on slavery, let’s dive into complicated gender roles! I know, it’s tough stuff. Ladies, don’t start getting defensive (as I am prone to do), and gentlemen don’t start elbowing your wives… Your turn’s coming. What we need to ask ourselves is this: why would God include these verses in the Bible? What might we need to take away from these words? How can we recognize our own cultural biases?

First, we have to remember that God is all for the empowerment of women. (Spoiler alert: read ahead to verse 7… I can’t wait to write that post!) God stands on the side of the oppressed, so he cannot be talking about the oppression of women. The point of today’s verses centers on how to win unbelieving husbands over to Christ. A spouse has a unique opportunity to have another person witness both their public and private lives. You are your most honest, ugly self in front of your spouse. So if, women, as Christians we are pure and reverent to Jesus 24/7, those who are closest to us will want to know Jesus too.

Here’s your freedom for today: you are most free when you follow Jesus behind closed doors. Sure, we can all seem like “good Christians” at church or at the weekly ladies’ Bible study. We can appear full of grace, poise, and piety. But how are we living at home? Are we bitter, resentful, or downright mean to our spouses or families? If your entire life were recorded, what parts might you want to delete? Those deletes can point you to the places you are not free. Sit in the presence of God in those spaces. Wherever you are farthest from Jesus, draw near to him at those moments by stopping everything else. Stop your words, stop your actions, stop thinking. Just go be with Jesus for a minute to re-center and re-group. No one you were about to yell at will ever mind.

“Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. This is how the holy women of old made themselves beautiful. They put their trust in God and accepted the authority of their husbands. For instance, Sarah obeyed her husband, Abraham, and called him her master. You are her daughters when you do what is right without fear of what your husbands might do.”

Ladies, we’re still in the spotlight until tomorrow’s post. But guys don’t gloss over these verses — they matter for you too. Everyone in our society has a messed up view of women. Women objectify women (including themselves); men objectify women (including their wives). We claim to be liberated, but even women who appear empowered often continue to sexualize themselves or others. There is virtually nothing in American culture that gets it right on women.

So let’s talk about beauty. If we think about everything we know about the divide between flesh and spirit — earthly and heavenly — we know that some things last and some things don’t. We know that with money, we can’t store it up for ourselves because it doesn’t make the trip to heaven with us. Beauty is the same. Genuine beauty is eternal. It cannot fade. It cannot streak down your face or rip or break. Both Christian men and women need to reject earthly definitions of beauty that are simply rotting away.

Here’s your freedom for today: the beauty of your spirit cannot fade. Ladies, what is your view of yourself? Men, what are you placing value on when you look at women? Makeup, clothes, shoes, jewelry, and even our earthly bodies do not make it into the kingdom of God. Kept in perspective, these things may have some basic use here on earth. But let us not use earthly things to co-opt the definition of an eternal reality. Perhaps the most beautiful thing ever seen is a redeemed soul deeply abiding in the Holy Spirit. A life transformed. The fruit of the Spirit embodied and lived out both in public and in private. Jesus was beautiful. Esther was beautiful. Abigail was beautiful. Sarah was beautiful. Deborah was beautiful. Your free self is beautiful.

“In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life. Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered.”

Ok, men, spotlight’s on you today after a couple days of exploring the spiritual power of women. Yes, that’s right ladies, hopefully you realized from the last two posts that your power lies in the imitation of Christ. Now here’s where things get interesting and we see once again that the kingdom of God is nothing like earth. Essentially, men have the same opportunity for spiritual power that women have: honor your spouse. Be an understanding person (no one ever minds that…).

One of the greatest sentences in all of the Bible is right here in this verse, and it may be one that rubs you the wrong way until you look at it carefully. It says a wife “may be weaker” than her husband, which was true then and in some ways is still true (even though I really cannot stand anyone calling me “weak”). Women in Bible times had very few economic opportunities outside a connection with a husband. Today, there is still sexism and gender discrimination. Women are not as privileged as men. But notice what the kingdom of God is like: a woman is an “equal partner in God’s gift of new life.” Equal. In every spiritual gift. On top of that, men, if you are not treating women as equal partners your prayer life will be in trouble. Turns out God doesn’t play by earthly gender rules.

Here’s your freedom for today: the kingdom of God is an equal opportunity realm. Men, women, slaves, masters, Jews, Gentiles… It doesn’t matter who you are. Step into God’s gift of new life through the Holy Spirit sent by Jesus himself and you are in. That’s it. Just take the gift. You are not better or worse than anyone else in God’s kingdom. That’s why comparing ourselves to others is completely unnecessary and even harmful. It’s also while limiting the roles of women (or men) in the church is harmful. There is no such thing in God’s kingdom. So men, go out and be the most honorable men you can be in the power of the Spirit. Women, chase after eternal beauty and use the power of peacemaking to usher in the kingdom. Be every single thing God made you to be.

 

“Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude.”

There is so much packed into this one verse I just couldn’t move on to another verse until I sat with this one. At first glance, you read the words and think, “Ok, yeah, that’s sounds nice. Pretty good Christian stuff there…” But then the second time around, perhaps a little more slowly, you may start to ask yourself questions like, “How do we do that?” or “Wait, really? Like, how often?”

Let’s pause on “one mind.” Does that mean we have to agree on everything? Are we doing that? Do Pentecostals and Baptists and Methodists and Catholics really have one mind? Then there’s “sympathize”… What is sympathy? Is it the same as empathy? “Love each other as brothers and sisters…” Just take a second to think about your siblings and consider whether that is a good blueprint for what Peter may be talking about. “Be tenderhearted…” So does that mean I need to be a big, squishy marshmallow and let people walk all over me? Keeping a “humble attitude,” okay maybe sometimes, but keep it? For how long?

Here’s your freedom for today: real love is simplicity in the midst of complexity. Is it hard to figure out all the things this verse is talking about? Are we really able to pull it off? When we break it down, it seems impossible. But that’s exactly the point. Supernatural things are not possible from an earthly perspective. Being of “one mind” is only possible because the Holy Spirit has infused us all with the mind of Christ. Sympathy, in addition to “pity,” is defined as “understanding between people; common feeling.” Humility is an others’ first attitude, which was demonstrated by Jesus. Do you see the pattern here? Jesus never made anything seem all that complicated. He just loved supernaturally, forgave supernaturally, and healed supernaturally. If you are trying to be a “good Christian” in the natural realm, you are going to be a total hypocrite. It’s the only outcome. But loving supernaturally? It’s the power of the Holy Spirit effortlessly moving mountains and hearts in the midst of you pulling up a chair next to someone different from you.