Author: Bryan Richardson

Re:Verse passage – 1 Peter 4:12-19 (day three)

“To the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.”

When you’re suffering, and there is no end in sight, what do you need? You need someone who acknowledges your pain with an understanding so deep that you finally believe someone has actually entered into your suffering. That someone will speak out loud the very thoughts and fears that have been screaming in your head. No “if you’ll just try this” or “let me tell you about a similar experience I had.” Just someone recognizing, appreciating, and speaking your anguish. This is empathy, and empathy originates with Jesus. Jesus comes to you as a fellow sufferer. This is “sharing the sufferings of Christ.” And in his beautiful company, you will endure and rise.

Re:Verse passage – 1 Peter 4:1-11 (day three)

“The end of all things is near.”

The might possessed by the powers-that-be has a shelf life, and there is nothing to be done about that fact. No suffering meted out by any powerful person or state can outrun the time God has set for the end of all things. Let that reality encourage you to keep company with him who is eternal, Peter says. This comforting statement can also invite unbelievers to reconsider the commonly held notion that the world will go on as it always has. Peter’s audacious remark can lead someone to a crisis of confidence, which can then lead to faith in Christ. May we recognize that the world systems are winding down, and may we invite people to join us in awaiting the age that’s coming, when Christ appears and renews all things.

Re:Verse passage – 1 Peter 3:18-22 (day three)

“…[Christ] went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah…”

Some will interpret this passage as describing Christ’s preaching in the Holy Spirit through Noah to an unbelieving generation, while others will see a description of Christ himself preaching to those who have died. These varying interpretations each lead to further implications about the human person’s relation to God after bodily death, so they are not unimportant. But one thing remains clear. There is not one human being who lives or has ever lived about whom God is unconcerned. God notices when someone is absent from his table. He will spare no effort to seek and to save. And he will teach you to to seek with him.

Re:Verse passage – 1 Peter 3:8-17 (day three)

“For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.”

What is the difference in the quality of suffering in each of the cases Peter mentions? Why is one better than the other? Righteous suffering would seem to be primarily formative in effect, while punitive suffering would seem to be primarily corrective in effect. If that is true, then punitive suffering would involve a costly repair of one’s standing within earthly systems of authority. Righteous suffering, on the other hand, is an opportunity to spend all of one’s God-given internal resources not on repair, but on more direct identification with Christ. Christ walked the path of the innocent sufferer. All who suffer for doing good walk right beside him.

Re:Verse passage – 1 Peter 3:1-7 (day three)

“Wives, be submissive to your own husbands … husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way”

Does the Bible tell you who is to make the financial decisions in your marriage – if you are married? Does the Bible reveal who is to “have the final say” in a dispute between the husband and wife? Does it tell you who is to make more money, or whether a wife should take employment while her husband stays home with the children? The Bible does not. Some will think such matters are implied, and others will disagree. Meanwhile, each couple will find their own way to arrange their household. The thing that Peter is explicit about here is this: When demanding gives way to softness toward each other, husband and wife will move closer together. And both deeply desire this.

Re:Verse passage – 1 Peter 2:18-25 (day three)

“Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect…”

Read “servants” as “slaves.” Nothing in 2022 sounds more unconscionable to one’s ears, perhaps, than a statement like this. Do these words minimize injustice by admonishing oppressed persons to refrain from seeking release from subjugation? Note carefully that the scripture here addresses enslaved persons without excusing societal oppression. The question the Bible deals with is this: How can the oppressed live in such a way that maximizes their well-being and simultaneously begins the project of dismantling the institution of slavery? The answer is the passage you see before you. The moment Peter associated the concept of injustice with slavery, its destruction began. That destruction still moves at the speed of the church’s obedience to Christ and advocacy for the marginalized – which is to say slowly – but the church is coming for the oppressed.

Re:Verse passage – 1 Peter 2:11-17 (day three)

“Abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles.”

Peter does not say this in order to unleash the behavior police. He tells us these things because fleshly lusts will degrade your ability to draw near to people with compassion and empathy. When your body’s appetites become your workaround for your own fear and pain, another person will become a means to an end for you. Like everyone else, your life harbors places of deep agony. The shortest of shortcuts to alleviate that distress is your body and the bodies of others. When you instead begin learning from Christ to address anguish through the pursuit of holy living, your life starts to heal, and you gain the energy to love people. The behavior police live by rules. The church lives by love.

Re:Verse passage – 1 Peter 2:1-10 (day three)

“You may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.”

It’s not uncommon to think of God as irritable, impatient, and perfectionist, yet willing to present a pleasant demeanor to you unless you trip the hair trigger of his anger. How can you know that’s not true? Consider this: If you’re to become like Christ, then the character of irritability, impatience, and perfectionism is the kind of character you would need to cultivate in yourself as well. The Bible reveals that the Lord is kind, patient, forgiving. He seeks not to be rid of you, but to live with you. Paul says the kindness of the Lord leads us to repentance. And here, Peter reveals that your openness to God’s kindness gives increasing assurance that you are safe with him.

Re:Verse passage – 1 Peter 1:18-25 (day three)

“You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood…”

When the power goes out, you’ll surely catch yourself trying to flip the light switch on; you’re so accustomed to lighting up a room in this way that it’s become second nature. But then you realize: the thing you’ve counted on has failed you. When something that has always before seemed to meet the need with precision and immediacy suddenly doesn’t, that’s distressing. At the scale of the human soul, Peter says, possessions, power, and plans have always been overrated. For now, the lights will eventually come back. But one day, all remedies will fail, save one. Only Christ can do what you thought those things could do. And they don’t love you, either. Christ does.

Re:Verse passage – 1 Peter 1:10-17 (day three)

“If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay.”

The Bible has much to say about fearing God. The Bible says these things not because God intends to frighten you, but because your every instance of wanting power or preference over fellow human beings leads you to ignore God, and when that happens, the world is a very dangerous place indeed. The earth and the heavens are a complex system that conform only to the limits that God has set. They won’t be pushed beyond those limits without disastrous consequences. You need God’s wisdom in order to live in harmony with God’s creation. The same is true with fellow human beings. The fear of God will lead you to live in harmony with people.