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.”
Right before Jesus spoke these words he said, “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.” So, it appears that his first sentence in this (above) discourse is in reference to what he just said previously, that the Lord is basically on the side of the righteous, but his face is against those who do evil. Therefore, if you are zealous for what is good, and not for what is evil, you will not be harmed by God. You will not face his wrath.
But this is not teaching we can just be “good deed doers” and now God is on our side. This must be read in the context of all the teachings on salvation and on eternal life in the New Testament. But what we do know is that those who God considers righteous are not those who merely make professions of faith in Jesus Christ, but they are those who are living and practicing righteousness, i.e. the righteousness of God, not of the flesh. And they are those who are walking in obedience to his commands (1 John 3:4-10).
And the reason I am leaning more toward a direct connection between verse 12 and verse 13, too, is that Jesus told us emphatically, on many occasions, that we would be called to suffer for the sake of his name and for the sake of righteousness and for the sake of the gospel and for the sake of our testimonies for Jesus Christ. So, it isn’t like there is a possibility that if we are living righteously that we will face no suffering at all, for Jesus said if we are being like him that we will be hated and persecuted as he was.
[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-17; Jn 15:18-21]
For if we look at the life of Jesus, and at the lives of his prophets of old, and at the lives of his NT apostles, who were all zealous for what is good in the eyes of God, it appears that they were all harmed, and/or they all suffered much, and not for doing evil, but for doing the good things of God. And they are our examples for what we should expect in the way of how we will be treated if we choose to follow God/Christ in obedience to his commands and to walk in his ways and to proclaim the truth of his word.
Yet, we are not to fear suffering for righteousness’ sake. And we definitely should not be those who shy away from doing what God has called us to do for fear of what others might do to us or say about us or to us. For we are not here on this earth to be liked and approved by other humans, not if we are serious about our walks of faith in Jesus Christ. We are not here to please people but to please God with our lives. But we are to honor Christ as Lord and him as holy, and we are to follow him where he leads us.
And we should always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks us for a reason for the hope that is in us. But here I would say that we must be discerning people with regard to other people’s responses to us, for there are many people who will respond to us in ways in which they are just trying to bait us into an argument, and we should not be those who argue. We can defend our position, but we should exercise wisdom in who to answer and in what to say, using Jesus as our example. For not everyone is genuine.
And yes, we should be respectful and not overly harsh, but gentle is not compromise, and it is not backing down from the truth, but it is meekness as Jesus was meek. And he never backed down from the truth, and he never made compromises to “be nice” to people. He stood strong on the truth and on righteousness, and he definitely did not bend on issues of eternal significance affecting our salvation and eternal life, and neither should we. So don’t be wishy-washy but maintain a good conscience in the Lord.
And then, when we are mistreated and rejected and cast aside and falsely accused and slandered and ignored, etc., we have no reason to be ashamed, for we know that we did and said what was right, and that we followed the Lord in obedience, and we did not back down in order to have human approval and acceptance. So our consciences are clear that we did right even if others do wrong, and even if they do wrong to us. And we all have to answer to God for what we did in this life in response to what God did for us.
[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; 1 Pet 1:17-21; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
When I Go Home
By G. M. Eldridge
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes…” Revelation 21:4
In the moment He appears
And the light from heaven shines,
I’ll forget ev’ry fear,
Ev’ry pain I’ll leave behind.
Then I’ll see Him as He is
And I’ll know Him as I’m known.
Ev’ry tear wiped away when I go home.
Ever present is the tho’t
That a moment waits for me
When unworthy as I am,
His glory I will see.
I will empty all my praise
Before my Father’s throne.
Ev’ry tear wiped away when I go home.
If the trial I endure,
And your presence I can’t find,
Be near me, Lord, I pray,
Bring back unto my mind
That your promises are firm
And I’m never on my own.
Ev’ry tear wiped away when I go home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z98Zvr1CyXg
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