December 22, 2021 Bible Study — Repay Evil With Blessing

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Peter 1-5.

Peter begins his letter by reminding us that God has chosen to give us an inheritance in His estate which will last in value for eternity.  This separates it from anything on this earth, because everything on this earth will eventually become of no value.  We may suffer now, in fact Peter writes that we probably will, but that which God has given us cannot be taken from us by those who persecute us.  So, because we have such an inheritance we should be holy, just as Jesus is holy.  Peter does not just tell us to be holy, he tells us what he means when he says that.  He writes that we should rid ourselves of malice and deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander.  We should respond to evil with evil, or insult with insult.  Instead we should strive to bring a blessing on those who do evil to us, and build up those who insult us.  Peter writes that suffering will come upon us, let us live so that the suffering results from the good we have done, rather than from wickedness which deserves to suffer.  Let us love one another and offer hospitality to those around us.  If we suffer for being a Christian, let us praise God that we are counted worthy to share Christ’s suffering.  If we prosper in this world let us seek out how we can serve others as a result.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.