A Heart Prepared

As believers, we are called to set apart Christ as Lord in our heart. We are called to live for his glory no matter what our circumstances are. Peter reminds us of these truths in 1 Peter 3:13-17. In this passage, he gives us a brief field manual for this rough and tumble world.

• We must live righteously. Righteous living is a combination of faith and action. We can call it faithful obedience or obedient faith.

• We must adjust our definition of harm. From a human perspective, harm can be categorized as anything that brings pain, discomfort, or displeasure. From a divine perspective, harm is that which separates us from God's mercy.

• We have to accept suffering as a blessing. I don't mean we enjoy the suffering. We rejoice in the suffering because it means God is treating us as his children. God blesses us in suffering (see Mt. 5:10-12).

• We must not fear. Peter tells us not to fear what they (opposition) fear or he could be telling us not to fear the opposition itself. If he is speaking about fearing what they fear, what would that be? Death, rejection, humiliation, etc. We are not to fear those things because we have Christ. Nor should we fear people because they only have the power to harm our bodies, not our souls.

• We must be prepared to give answers to any one who asks us why we hope in Christ. It doesn't we have all the answers, but that we are able to express the gospel clearly.

• We must be gentle and respectful. The gospel message can easily offend someone who does not believe they are a sinner. However, we should not seek to offend them with the way we present the message.

• We have to keep a clear conscience. We do this by living what we proclaim. We acknowledge our weaknesses, but strive to live obediently. 

Peter's words where meant to comfort a struggling people. They were also meant to encourage them to rise to the challenge. Sometimes, suffering for doing God's will is his will for us. When he permits hardship to enter our lives, we can trust that he has a good reason. In times like those, we cling to him knowing that he is worthy of our trust.