13 For the Lord’s sake, submit to all human authority—whether the king as head of state, 14 or the officials he has appointed. For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right.
15 It is God’s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you. 16 For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. 17 Respect everyone, and love the family of believers. Fear God, and respect the king.
18 You who are slaves must submit to your masters with all respect. Do what they tell you—not only if they are kind and reasonable, but even if they are cruel. 19 For God is pleased when, conscious of his will, you patiently endure unjust treatment. 20 Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you.
21 For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.
22 He never sinned,
nor ever deceived anyone.
23 He did not retaliate when he was insulted,
nor threaten revenge when he suffered.
He left his case in the hands of God,
who always judges fairly.
24 He personally carried our sins
in his body on the cross
so that we can be dead to sin
and live for what is right.
By his wounds
you are healed.
25 Once you were like sheep
who wandered away.
But now you have turned to your Shepherd,
the Guardian of your souls.
Tori's Comments:
As Christians, we should be so known for our integrity, and actually be full of integrity, that anyone who accuses you of wrongdoing would look foolish. What a way to be known! What a way to represent our Lord!
I also find it interesting how we are called to this life of submission wherever we are. We see so much anger at political leaders when we SHOULD be praying for them and that God will lead them. Rather than constant anger and hatred, we should show love and pray that God gives them wisdom in their decisions, as well as trust God that he knows what He's doing.
Because seriously, he knows what he's doing. Yet somehow we still think he doesn't.
There's one Bethel song lyric, I have no idea which one, that runs through my head constantly in these situations. The lyrics are literally, "He's been God a long time. He knows what He's doing." It is definitely a humbling thought, that we would dare challenge Him over these things. He causes the sun to rise each morning and controls the blooming of every flower! And we couldn't even change the colour of one hair on our heads! :)
Terrie's Comments:
Pay careful attention to the kind of suffering we are to endure. Jesus suffered unjustly because he was submitting to God his father. We are called to walk in the foot steps of Jesus Christ. We are to line up our lives, words, actions and thoughts to the will of God. This is completely doable because of the Holy Spirit living inside of us who leads us, teaches us, comforts us, convicts us, empowers us. We are not to retaliate or threaten others when we are being attacked because we are doing what is right in the sight of God. We are to leave our case in the hands of God. In the ESV it says it this way "he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly"
God is trustworthy. We can entrust our lives into His hands and live freely. The remainder of this letter continues to talk about relating to the suffering that Christ endured as he stayed the course. It talks about how to handle persecutions rightly so that we will win others over to following Jesus Christ. This suffering mentioned in 1 Peter is not sickness or disease. It is suffering inflicted upon us by other humans who are coming against our faith in Jesus Christ.
22 He never sinned,
nor ever deceived anyone.
23 He did not retaliate when he was insulted,
nor threaten revenge when he suffered.
He left his case in the hands of God,
who always judges fairly.
Take our personal comments or leave them. We would love to hear what stood out to you about today`s passage and how it encouraged you. Tell us in the comments below!
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Please keep all comments respectful. We want to remember that each of us is at a different place in our walk with God. This is a place for us to share openly about what has been revealed to us as we open up Gods word and to learn from others. Please take every opportunity possible to build each other up in love :-)