1 Peter 3:13-17 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)
13Who can harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be shaken.” 15But in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you. But respond with gentleness and respect, 16keeping a clear conscience, so that those who slander you may be put to shame by your good behavior in Christ. 17For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
What is Good?
God is good! His Word is good! Kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, honesty, integrity, and moral purity are all good. Loving God –
Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit – is good. Loving those who hate us,
who mistreat us, who abuse us, and who speak evil against us is good. Loving those
trapped in sinful addiction, praying for them, doing good to them and not harm,
while attempting to help them to come out from under addiction to sin, and while
sharing with them the truth of the gospel of our salvation, is all good.
Who Can Harm You?
But a lot of people don’t want to hear the truth. They
prefer the lies. And even though you love those who are caught in sin, and
because you love them you want to show them the way to victory over sin, this
doesn’t automatically mean that they will love you back, or that they will not
despise you for telling them the truth they do not want to hear. Chances are
pretty good that they will not appreciate your kindness to them but that they
will respond with hatred, bitterness, resentment, and with chastisement.
If You Should Suffer
But even if we should suffer for what is right in the eyes
of the Lord, and according to the teachings of the Scriptures, we are blessed
of God. And so we are not to be afraid of what might happen to us, or of how
others might treat us or perceive us, or of what they might say about us which
could be lies, lies spoken out of anger and resentment and bitterness. For that
is how Jesus and His New Testament apostles and God’s prophets before them were
treated. They were treated like they were the enemy when they were not.
Prepared to Give a Defense
If someone challenges what we are doing, or what we are
teaching, and so we have tested ourselves in prayer to God against the
teachings of the Scriptures to make certain that we are in line with the Scriptures
and that what we are sharing and/or doing is not against the Scriptures, we are
clear to give a defense to everyone who makes the challenge or who asks for the
reason for the hope that is in us. We are not to get heated and nasty, but in
love we can defend our own honor for the glory of God and for the truth.
The Result
When you stand on the truth, in defense of the gospel, in
defense of biblical teachings on the subjects of sin, repentance, obedience, faith,
forgiveness, morality, and the like, be prepared for backlash. Be prepared for
people to attack you and/or to accuse you falsely of what you did not do or of
what you did not say. Many people will take your words out of context and they
will twist them to make them say what you did not mean, and so they will accuse
you falsely of what you did not do or say. Be kind back to them.
And be prepared that sometimes you may have to stand alone,
and that the people you love may turn against you. They will not love you back.
But they may stab you in the back because you stepped on one of their idols,
and they did not like that. They won’t be content with just hating you or with being
angry with you all by themselves, and so they may bring others into the
conversation, and while they misrepresent you and what you are saying, they may
turn others against you, too. Pray for wisdom to do what is right.
[Matthew 5:10-12;
Matthew 10:16-25,34-39; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 12:49-53; Luke
21:12-17; John 15:18-21; John 16:33; Acts 14:22; Romans 5:3-5; 2 Corinthians
1:3-11; Ephesians 6:10-20; Philippians 3:7-11; 1 Thessalonians 3:1-5; Hebrews
12:3-12; James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 1:6-7; 1 Peter 4:12-17; Revelation
6:9-11; Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 11:1-3; Revelation
12:17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 14:1-13]
Suffering for What’s
Right
An Original Work / October 4, 2026
Christ’s
Free Servant, Sue J Love
Why So Downcast?
Based off Psalm 42
An Original Work / December 21,
2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Why so downcast, O
my soul,
And why so disturbed
now within me?
Put your hope in
Jesus Christ,
For I will praise
His name.
He’s my Savior and
my God,
So therefore I’ll
remember Him through
Storms and tempests
sweeping o’er me.
Still I’ll praise
His name.
Put your hope in
God.
By day the Lord
sends forth His love.
In the night His
song is with me.
I pray to the God of
my life.
I will praise His
name. I say to God my Rock,
“Why must I be
called to suffer this way?”
Foes attack me;
Satan sneering.
Still I’ll praise my
God.
Put your hope in
Him.
As a deer pants for
the waters,
So my soul pants for
You, O God.
My soul thirsts for
God who’s living.
When can I meet Him?
My tears have been
my food at night,
When men say, “So,
where is your God?”
I pour out my soul
to my God.
I’ll still praise
His name.
Shout with joy to
Him.
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