Lesson 13: Holiness in action – committed to true love
Read 1 Peter 3:1-22- https://www.bible.com/bible/59/1pe.3
8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.
9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.
10 For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;
11 let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
From the beginning of 1 Peter 2 we have been studying holiness in action. In today’s verses Peter summarizes what he has said so far by saying all this holiness in action is about true love. Whether we seek His provision (lesson 6), understanding of His ways (lesson 7), His purpose for us (lesson 8), search for His promises (lesson 9), submit to His authority (lesson 10), seek to work in His administration (lesson 11), or follow His leadership (lesson 12), all our efforts are of no use if we do not have His true love as the foundation of our whole life – see 1 Corinthians 13.
Verse 8 gives us the positive side of love while Verse 9 compares true love with our own way of working out conflict.
Verses 10-12 quote King David’s advice to his men, but to understand better, we go back to Psalm 34 and read what happened in David’s life to make him write these words. King Saul, David’s father-in-law, had been trying to kill him for nearly a year. Everywhere David turned for safety it seemed like someone was always ready to betray him to Saul, and the attack would come. He finally took his men to the neighboring country to request safety from Saul there. This was not God’s plan for David, so He allowed people from this country to recognize David as the Goliath-killer. David escaped the city with God’s help, and then returned to his men to tell them what God had taught him through this ordeal (read the story in 1 Samuel 21:10-15).
Now read verses 10-12 above again. David has just escaped with his life. From this experience, he says that a life of love is demonstrated in how we talk with and treat others. Seeking peace in the way we treat others is noticed by Jesus Christ. He hears our prayers when we keep our holiness in action by concentrating on loving others as God loves them.
*Do you ever feel like God does not hear your prayers? What do these verses teach you about God hearing you when you pray?
Lesson 13: Holiness in Action – Committed to True Love Print
Modified on: Wed, 24 Nov, 2021 at 8:58 AM
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