1 Peter 

1 Peter 1

I love how the trinity is shown in the first part of 1 Peter. God’s elect are chosen by God the Father, sanctified through Holy Spirit’s work, are obedient to Jesus and sprinkled with His blood. Because Jesus has risen, we have new birth into a living hope! We have an inheritance in heaven that won’t ever perish. Through faith in Jesus, we are shielded by God’s power until our salvation is ready to be revealed in the end.

 

In life, we have trials, but we can rejoice always because of what God has done for us. We can have true joy because we know what God has done for us, and who He is. Trials will show our faith is genuine. Faith is so important it is called greater than gold. One of the ladies pointed out this morning that it is purified gold, helping remove the sin we have in our lives. Our faith will result in praise, honor and glory when Jesus is revealed.

 

The reason we have so much joy as believers is that we love Him, believe in Him and know our souls are saved. We should be alert, sober, stay away from evil and be holy in ALL we do. We have grace, but we also should fervently strive to not sin. The way that we can do this is through love. True, biblical love. We as believers should look completely different to the world because of our love for one another. We have the example that Jesus set for love. We have 1 Corinthians 13 and the writings of John which teach us what love looks like. We see Jesus’s example of sacrificial love. We see throughout the Bible that God is love. When we are living our lives by these examples, it helps us to not sin. I love how Peter says we are to love each other deeply and sincerely from the heart. When we are loving God, we are obedient to Him. When we are showing biblical love to others, we won’t be sinning against them. Today my application is to try to live my life in love as described in 1 Corinthians 13. I will choose to have joy regardless of any circumstance because my joy is found in Him and not in the circumstances around me.

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1 Peter 2

Peter says we should long for the pure milk of the word, so we can grow in our salvation if we have tasted the kindness of the Lord. What an awesome description! We should long to read God’s word. It is so sweet to read. We can grow to maturity through it. I love the description Peter gives of how we are each living stones being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood. The cornerstone of this house is Jesus. When we believe in Jesus, we will not be put to shame. Jesus is of precious value to believers. His description of those who know Jesus as their Savior is so encouraging. We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession. Do you think of yourself like this? We can feel discouraged sometimes, but this is the truth of who we are and we can rest in this knowledge.

 

We each have a purpose. God has a plan for each of our lives, and one of these is shown here. We are to proclaim how excellent He is. Because of Jesus’s death and resurrection, we are now people of God who have received mercy. This mercy is not an excuse to sin. Because of our love for God, we need to make sure that we stay away from sins. We want to be a good example to those around us, so they can see the difference Jesus has made in our lives.

 

We should submit ourselves to God and those in authority over us. Yes, we have been made free through Jesus, but that freedom does not mean we should sin or not be loving to those around us. We need to honor all people regardless of who they are. Everyone is made in the image of God. People have value regardless of what the world considers valuable, Think of who Jesus spoke to, and the value He placed on their lives. He spoke to outcasts, sinners and those who others rejected and didn’t see value in.

 

We need to love believers. I feel like this is so important. We should look different because of our love for each other. We should truly love believers. We should love being together. We should live like 1 Corinthians 13 being patient, kind, not jealous, not arrogant or rude, not insisting on our own way, not irritable or resentful, not rejoicing in wrong, but rejoicing with truth. If we do what is right and suffer, this finds favor with God. Peter says this is one of our purposes, just as Christ suffered for us.

 

So many people have been taught a prosperity gospel. Yes, the Bible says that every good thing comes from Him, and we should always be thankful for what He gives us, but He also says to rejoice in trials that we experience because they build our character and perfect us. We need to be like Paul and be content in every circumstance and find our peace in Him. Jesus was perfect and completely without sin. Yet when He was insulted and suffered so much because of His love for us, He entrusted Himself to God and was willing to suffer and die for our sins. Then praise God, He was raised back to life and is our Lord and Savior, our Shepherd and the Guardian of our souls.

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1 Peter 3

This chapter has one of the most common questions I am asked about by people who are curious about Christianity. It is also one of the easiest ones to turn into a salvation message. The question usually goes, “Does the Bible really say women have to submit to their husbands?”

 

In this chapter it does discuss how a woman should be subject to her husband and be respectful of her husband. It talks about how our adornment should not be on the outside, instead be a gentle and quiet spirit. I love how it says this is “precious in the sight of God.” The husband is supposed to love his wife, be understanding to her, and show her honor. Not only that the husband has to do these things for his prayers not to be hindered. We are all to be harmonious, sympathetic, loving, compassionate, humble, returning evil with a blessing, speak good things, seek peace and be righteous. We still might suffer for being righteous, but that is actually a blessing. When we tell others of Jesus, we are to do it with gentleness and respect. It goes through the salvation message at the end.

 

So, when I am asked the question I talked about above, I talk about how marriage is a picture of Christ and the church and what Christ did for the church so we can be saved. I have been able to pray the prayer of salvation with many people because of this passage of Scripture. Don’t be afraid to have these conversations with others. When people are curious about the what the Bible says, and many are, you can end up sharing the gospel with others.

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1 Peter 4

Peter tells us that we should be living to do the will of God and to avoid living for the flesh and sinning.  We are to have self-control and be sober-minded and pray. Once again we see how important love is above everything. We should serve others in His strength with the gifts that He has given us. Living life in biblical love changes us. When we are showing biblical love, it is keeping us from sin. It is allowing us to serve others. 

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Once again, Peter talks about how we should expect suffering. If we are suffering for Christ, we are blessed because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. I am thinking of those who are in prison for their faith who we are called to pray for in other Scripture. Out of love we should spend time caring about and praying for them. When we are suffering, we can trust God who is good. 

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1 Peter 5

Humility is another common theme in the Bible. The sin of pride easily creeps in. God actually opposes the proud. We do not want to be in that position. Think of how much Moses was able to do for God. He was called the humblest man on earth. You can lead from a place of humility as you are in God’s will. Doing what God wants you to do humbly rather than proudly comes back to motive as well. It says to humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. Knowing God created the universe, just gives me this image of a huge hand and how silly it is for us to oppose God. I would much rather be humble and allow Him to exalt me than to be prideful and have Him oppose me. He is the Almighty Creator and I am His creation.

 

When we are humble, we don’t have to be stressed. It is easier on us. We can trust God and cast our anything we are concerned about onto Him. We don’t have to try to do things in our own strength. He cares for us, and can do more than we can think or imagine. We do need to be careful. Pride and other sins so easily slip in. This morning one of the ladies I disciple pointed out that the sin of irritability can creep in as well. When we memorized 1 Corinthians 13, that sin stood out to me. If I can stop myself at irritability and realize that it is not loving to be irritable, that irritability can turn into patience and love rather than anger.

 

We are told to be sober-minded and watchful. Resist the devil. Be firm in our faith. Because we have faith we can stand firm in suffering. Any suffering we have is only temporary. We are called in Christ to eternal glory!! Everyone who has made Jesus their Savior will be together with Him one day! Jesus Himself will:

1. Restore

2. Confirm

3. Strengthen

4. Establish us

How amazing is it that He loves us that much! What confidence we can have in Him. There is no reason for us to have pride. We can stand firm in our faith in Him. So today, my goal is to do everything in His strength only, humbly staying in His will.

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