Whoever Desires to Love Life
1 Peter 3:10-12 ESV
“For ‘Whoever desires to love life
and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit;
let him turn away from evil and do good;
let him seek peace and pursue it.
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their prayer.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.’”
Whoever is willing to love life in the sense of preferring
to live through Christ and to choose, embrace, and obey God’s will for their
lives, and if they want to see days filled with the goodness of God actively at
work in their daily lives, then certain factors in their lives must be in
place.
They must be those who are actively pursuing God and his
righteousness and who, by the Spirit, are daily putting to death the deeds of
the flesh. They should also be those who put a guard over their tongues, as a
matter of practice, and who exercise wisdom in what to say and how to say it.
They must not be those who practice evil and evil speaking,
nor should they be those who make lying and deception their practice. Instead,
they should be those who are daily turning away from evil and who are doing the
good that God prepared for them to do, that they should walk in that way.
They are not perfect people who never make a mistake, but
they are people of integrity, who love the Lord, and who are walking in his
ways and in his truth, in his power and strength. And they are not habitually
living to please the passions of the flesh, but they are living to please God.
For the Lord is the Shepherd over those who are the
righteous, but not just who are positionally righteous, but who are living
righteously, which is signified by the context here, and which is also consistent
throughout the New Testament.
The righteous are not just those who believe in Jesus, but
they are those who make righteous living their practice, by God’s Spirit (1 Jn
2:29; 1 Jn 3:7, 10; Phi 4:9; 1 Tim 4:15; Heb 5:14; 2 Pet 1:10).
He has guardianship and care over our lives. He is our owner-master.
He protects us from evil. He leads us in the way that we should go. He counsels
and guides us in the right way. He determines our steps, that we should walk in
them. And he gives us all that we need to live righteously in obedience to his
commands, for he is our strength and our help.
He also listens to our prayers because we are listening to
him. But he doesn’t just listen, but he takes our prayers to heart. He hears
us, and he cares. He feels with us in our pain and our sorrow because he was a
man of sorrows and acquainted with grief who bore our sins on a cross.
But the face (countenance) of the Lord is against those who
practice evil. They will die in their sins, not live for eternity (Gal 5:16-21;
Eph 5:3-6; Jn 8:34; Rom 1:32; 1 Co 6:9; 2 Co 12:21; Eph 4:19; 1 Tim 1:10; 1 Jn
1:6).
Always Being Prepared
1 Peter 3:13-17 ESV
“Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.”
Not only does the Christian life involve dying with Christ
to sin and living to him and to his righteousness, leaving our lives of sin
behind to follow Jesus in obedience to his commands, but it is also a life of
suffering. For, if we are following Jesus with our lives, we will be opposed
and persecuted.
Yet, we are not to fear our opposition who persecute us for
righteousness’ sake. We are not to be afraid of being rejected, falsely
accused, kicked out of church gatherings, called crazy or of the devil, or of
being arrested and perhaps even put to death for our faith.
We are not to worry about what other people think about us
or about the lies that they might be believing about us, too. We must give our
reputations over to God, too, and be willing to be thought a fool if it means
bringing the truth of the gospel to people so that they can be saved from their
sins.
We need to be students of the Scriptures so that we know the
truth, and so that we relay the truth to others, as empowered by God’s Spirit. And
we need to live the truth and put the word of God into practice in our daily
lives. And we need to always be ready to give an answer as to the hope that is
in us to anyone who inquires about our faith or who asks a question of us that
must be answered with what we believe about Jesus.
We are not to be ugly or insulting to people, though. We can
speak the truth in love without being obtuse. It never means that we compromise
the truth to spare people’s feelings, though, for the word of God cuts to the
heart. The gospel offends.
We must always maintain a good conscience, for nothing hurts
the cause of Christ and the gospel more than those who mouth empty words about
Christ but who secretly are engaged in all sorts of evil. We should always live
what we teach and/or profess.
Lastly, there is no shame in doing what is right and
suffering for it, as though we did wrong, when we didn’t. If we know we did
right, even if we are falsely accused, we can be at peace. We just put our
lives and our reputations in the hands of the Lord and trust him to work it all
out for our good and for his purposes (Rom 8:28).
An
Original Work / September 26, 2011
When
in the stillness of this moment,
Speak
to me, Lord, I humbly pray.
Be
my desire, set me on fire,
Teach
me to love always.
Help
me to walk in fellowship with You,
Listening
to You; sit at Your feet.
Whisper
Your words to me,
Oh,
how gently, guiding me in Your truth.
While
we are waiting for Your blessing,
Lord,
in our hearts be King today.
Help
us to live for you ev’ry moment,
List’ning
to what You say.
May
we not stray from your word within us,
Help
us obey You, Lord, in all things,
Walking
each moment, Lord, in Your presence,
Our
offerings to You bring.
Help
us to love You, Lord, our master;
Be
an example of Your love,
Helping
the hurting, lift up the fallen,
Showing
them Your great love.
Teach
them to love You, follow You always,
Bearing
their cross and turning from sin;
Walking
in daily fellowship with You,
Making
You Lord and King.
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