20090517
The Apostle Peter teaches us in 1 Pet. 1 that genuine faith comes from remembering that this world is not our home – we are just passing through. In 1 Pet. 2, he reminds us that our journey on earth must be rooted in the knowledge of whose we are – believers bought by the precious blood of Jesus. As believers, we belong to one big family – God’s. He proceeds to share about Christian family values in 1 Pet. 3. How, as children of God, we should behave with one another. Family members must love each other, right? Here is the tricky thing – loving can be tough because family members often drive each other up the wall with their quirks. For example, one family member may have a habit of leaving dinner plates in the sink – to wash them only after a TV programme is over. Another family member will never bother to pick up the phone or open the door for others. In God’s family, such things do irritate us. Whatever the family quirk list may be, we are called on by Peter to“live in harmony with one another” because it is to this mutual submission that we are called for a mutual“blessing” – the blessing of seeing Christ in glory.
For harmony to take place a change in pride is required. As in all change, it is a matter of the mind, the heart and the action. The mind is the control centre directing the will which directs the deeds. We need the mind of Christ. Though as Son of God, he was all things, He made himself as nothing, so that we may be counted as something (righteous) before God. We mentally need to remind ourselves to regard others better than ourselves (Phil 2:2-3). Then, comes the softening of the heart. The correct action for Christians will follow.
In Christian families, it is less likely that fellow believers wronged by another will repay “evil with evil” because the love of Christ constrains us. But it is easy to repay “insult with insult” – for example, by a verbal putdown or a cold shoulder treatment. The cure for this is for us to be “sympathetic” or “tender-hearted”. In childspeak and in childlike innocence, we need to “give chance” because the Lord Jesus gave chance to us when He died for us. We must always pursue peace so that our heavenly Father can be happy with us. “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity” (Ps. 133:1).
