Devotions—I Peter
I Peter 4:7-11
The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
The second coming of Jesus is for Christians, a forgone conclusion, this is going to happen. In fact, everything the Bible says about redemption has taken place but this one last, great event; when Jesus returns and sets the world right and we dwell with our God forever. What is not so clear among Christians is the answer to the question, “So what?” How does the coming of the Savior affect today? Some retreat from the world and just wait. But most Christians, if we are honest, live our lives completely indifferent from the end of all things. But the Bible is quite explicit about our calling in light of Christ’s coming again.
When Peter says the end of all things is at hand, he is referring to the imminent return of the King. And what follows is how our lives in the present are to reflect and be lived in light of redemption’s culmination. Interestingly, the ‘therefore’ is extremely practical. Colossians says because Christ is coming, we are therefore to, “…put to death your members which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness which is idolatry…anger, wrath, blasphemy, filthy language and lying…” Here are some other ramifications of our living in light of Christ’s return according to the Bible:
You will understand the prosperity of the wicked
You will see clearly why you persevere in your prayers
You will not take vengeance on your enemies but love them
You will repay evil, with kindness
You will worship cheerfully and participate in Eucharist with expectation
You will practice hospitality
You will purify yourself because He is pure
You will spare no effort to put your sin to death
Those are just a few of the practical ramifications of our Christian lives and all lived in light of the end of all things. In these few verses Peter has turned us to the positive, that is what makes up true and authentic Christian behavior. In a nutshell Peter is saying that Christians should be sober-minded and self-controlled, that is, people who see life, their own and that of the world around them, in view of the coming judgment. That will lead them to prayer and will empower their prayer. They must, in particular, love the brothers and demonstrate that love in practical ways: overlooking one another’s sins (a very difficult thing, we know; something that takes grace in great quantities to do faithfully and constantly) and cheerfully offering hospitality. That too is difficult because grumbling is so easy! Furthermore, Christians should live attempting to make the maximum use of the gifts God has given them, gifts that are not to be used for self, but specifically in service to others. We want to accomplish something in one another’s lives, we want to make other’s lives better, happier, and holier than they are now. In all things they are to seek the glory of God and of Jesus Christ their Savior. That is Peter’s description of a faithful Christian life. So, how do we measure up? Well, let’s look again, here are the principles.
First, the Christian life is void of self and focused on the needs of others. What is the cause of much of the unhappiness in this world, the cause of the unhappiness of those who are not Christians as well as the cause of unhappiness for those who are? Is it not, in very many cases, an insufficient measure of love or that the love that used to be there has grown cold? We were made for love. We were made to find our happiness and fulfillment in love. The happiest, the most serene, and the most complete people are invariably those who love the most. Christians often get sidetracked wanting to do something significant in their lives, wanting to make a splash. Well, seek to be great in this…emptying yourself that you might be a blessing to others.
Henry Scougal, in his, The Life of God in the Soul of Man, makes the wonderful observation that if he had his choice of anything to make him really happy, he should choose to have his heart full of the greatest love, affection, and kindness toward all men in the world. When reading this our temptation is to think that he wrote this because it sounds good. But he goes on, if you really loved others, you would share all of their happiness; inward gifts, outward blessings, and, for that reason, you would have to be the happiest person in the world, because everything that made anyone else happy would make you happy too! For love’s sake you would share their sorrows too, of course, but it would be a pure sorrow. Such is the purity and the goodness of love. That is why no one has ever been harmed by love or diminished by it.
You and I agree with this…that is the easy part. The trick of a lifetime is taking it to heart and living it. Covering sin instead of drawing attention to it? Especially sin against us personally…sin that hurts? Showing hospitality, opening ourselves up and doing so without grumbling or drawing attention to ourselves? Are we, you and I, champions of forgiveness and service? Love forgives with a vengeance and serves without asking for return on investment. Is that you? Is that me?
Second, Peter encourages us to live our lives by faith, not by sight. Again, a common phrase among Christian, but it must not simply be a cliché, it must be the heartbeat of our Christian living. I realize Peter doesn’t use those words but everything he says presuppose it. The life Peter describes here can only be lived believing certain things to be true and living consistently with what we say we believe. If a person doesn’t actually think that the end of all things is near, he will not live the same way as he will if he is reckoning with the fact that eternity is not far from him. He will not find equal motivation to make sacrifices for others, to discipline his life and to seek godly virtues for he will be found living for the moment, for the seen.
Faith is, as many have said, the power of God at the disposal of man. And that is how the Christian life alone can be lived by sinners, such as ourselves, sinners still as weak and selfish as we know ourselves to be. If we are not motivated by convictions, we have based on things we cannot see, we’re not going to live the life Peter has described here. We’re not going to come close to living that life. We’re not even going to want to live that life.
Would any of us deny that the life that Peter describes here is the best kind of life, the life that all of us know is the life that ought to be. To forsake our own interests for those of others, which we can successfully do only by a constant laying hold of the present Lord Christ for help, and to do all of this as much in our hearts as with our hands and voices, which means that we will not be doing it hypocritically or insincerely. It is one of our worst sins, yours and mine, that we make this titanic thing called the Christian life into something so pedestrian, so predictable, so ordinary, and so unimpressive. It is not!
The Christian life, yours and mine, is so high and so great a life that you and I only see glimpses of it here and there as we live our lives. Only from time to time have we managed to live it as it ought to be lived but when we do so, it is wonderful beyond words!
Prayer: Father, by your grace and mercy keep my eyes fixed upon the coming of the Savior. Fill my life with love for You and my brothers and sisters. Keep me, Spirit of God, from empty words and hypocritical action. May I be reckless in covering the sins of others, and just as emphatic on bringing all my sins before the throne of grace. God help me that I would live a life in the grace and mercy of my Savior that is wonderful beyond words, through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Hymn: Join All the Glorious Names
