1 Peter 3:8-12 Revised Standard Version
8 Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love of the brethren, a tender heart and a humble mind. 9 Do not return evil for evil or reviling for reviling; but on the contrary bless, for to this you have been called, that you may obtain a blessing. 10 For
“He that would love life
and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking guile;
11 let him turn away from evil and do right;
let him seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous,
and his ears are open to their prayer.
But the face of the Lord is against those that do evil.”
More detailed questions this week.
- What is your first Impression?
One clown on the team used the title for the section in his bible as his answer. It was good. Others had their own like love your neighbor and unconditional love. I was just overwhelmed that the list continued on with things that are so hard to do. Kind of like today. It must be a Wednesday.
- Unity of Spirit – Why is the church today so splintered?
As with anything involving man, the church is full of sinners forgiven by the work of Christ and therefore full of issues that we do not understand, do not care about, we do not agree about, or think are too hard to solve and so we move on with our lives in an easier fashion. So issues are so big, we can all get behind them (Love God and Love our Neighbor). But often the details are a little sticky (Ask if they know Jesus? Tell them they are going to hell if they do not?)
- Sympathy – Number 15 talks about lending and forgiving debts. Why is being sympathetic so hard?
I used this path as sympathy has many avenues. The basic tenant of love your neighbor says to give and not expect it returned. The basic tenant of economy is to lend and charge interest and make sure you get both back. The spiritual life before us is not compatible with the world and we have to decide to follow God and not the world to allow sympathy even a foothold.
- Tender Heart and Humble Mind – What is required of someone to have a tender heart and a humble mind and how does one “flip this switch”?
The first response was follow the golden rule about treating others as you would have them treat you as opposed to the golden rule of he who has the gold makes the rules. People experience pain and suffering. Our pain and suffering allow us to have empathy for those in it now. The only switch to flip is to give you life to Christ. All of it.
- On the contrary, bless – How do we stop evil if we are commanded to bless the evil doer?
The short answer was rebuke and pray. That may be the only answer. It may not be the feel-good answer to be a vent for our anger, but it might be that God wants us to be a mouthpiece and not take action. Be a witness for what is right, but let the government do its thing.
- Should we love life and see good days? Are these Christian things to seek?
Yes. Yes. God never asks us to seek misery. He asks us to follow Him, to enjoy it, and to be blessed in some fashion by it. Trying to enjoy the life we have while following Him is a great goal and allows us strength to show love to others.
- Do right, seek peace, pursue it – What is the seeking and pursuing of peace? How much effort are we to expend on it?
As peace comes from God, seeking peace involves seeking after God, what He wants us to know, to believe, and to act upon. Peace is not the absence of war, but the contentment to accept what we are given and to work to share it with others. It is a process of gaining it for oneself, studying how to give it to others, and then to act to give it to others.
- Eyes and Ears of the Lord on the righteous – How specific do our prayers need to be to effect the changes of
- stopping evil,
- pursuing peace,
- blessing evil doers,
- being sympathetic,
- having unity of spirit, and
- exhibiting a tender heart and a humble mind?
My idea here was that we can not be watched over by God and to know He listens to our prayers and then sit back and pray generically for those around us. We need to relate, to have conversations, to live life with those around us and to pray for them and their needs and watch God bless situations, and then to give Him the glory by pointing out what our prayers have brought about.
We are to love our neighbor, by loving our neighbor.