Down, But Not Out :: Deeper Devotion

I Peter 3: 13, 14
Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled.

Isn’t that the way it always works? When you try to do the right thing, someone usually comes along and has a comment either about you being a “goody-goody” or about how the good behavior won’t last long. It seems that if people can’t criticize someone for being too good, they have to find comfort in a prediction of when the downfall will take place. In this passage, Peter reminds us to take heart! After all, who will harm you if you are eager to do good? And even if harm does come to you as a result of following the will of God, you can consider this a blessing. God longs for followers who care only about what He thinks of them. Peter reminds us of God’s words to Isaiah when He warns him not to follow the way of people and says to him, “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened” (Isaiah 8:12).

Peter goes on to remind us that we are to make Christ the Lord of our life (vesre 15). When we acknowledge Him as Lord, the only opinion that matters is His. In keeping with following His will, we must study and know the Word of God and the person of God so that we can fully explain our faith. And the icing on the cake must be gentleness. When we coat our words and our actions with gentleness and understanding, our persecutors will be “ashamed of their slander.”

I don’t know who you are or what your struggles may be, but I do know that you live in the same world I live in; a world that is harshly critical and waiting to pounce on my mistakes. Take heart today in knowing that God is the one we are seeking to please and that when He is pleased it is likely that they world will be “ashamed of their slander.”

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