Submissive and Considerate

Peter 3:1-7

As Peter wraps up his thoughts about submitting to authority, he takes is home. The relationship between a husband and a wife has been under attack from the beginning of our story. Imagine the first couple of fights that Adam and Eve had. The fruit incident, Eve weakness and Adam not protecting her. The first relocation, moving from the garden to the desert had to be quite the adjustment relationally as they lay on the hard floor after working in the fields all day and Eve is experiencing the discomfort of growing a child in her belly. Then of course the difficulty of losing a son. How do you deal with the burying a child, especially when he was murdered by his very own brother?

Needless to say, marriage has been on attack for a long time. Peter lends us insight into how the two partners are to treat each other. Though this isn't all of Peter's marriage advice, I believe it is a great place to start. Wives are to be submissive. It is important to note that Peter is writing at the time when arranged marriages were prevalent. It would make sense to tell the wives to submit and tell the husbands to be considerate. They aren't necessarily the kind of relationships that form in the fairy tales.

God always calls us to work through authority. Peter tells wives to be submissive not to make their husbands feel good about themselves but that in so doing they would bring glory to God. Husbands will eventually be called to go a step further than just being considerate. They will be called to love their wives in the same way that Christ loved the church.

Bottom line... marriage has been under attack for as long as our story has been going on. It is important that we as believers set the example instead of blending into a society that has missed the mark.

Heart and Soul,
BAG
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Trust

1 Peter 2:23 (NIV)
²³ When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.

There is a great possibility in this world you will be misunderstood. You may be unfairly attacked. You may be beaten both physically and emotionally. This is nothing new. In fact the one whose mark we bear modeled this kind of reality in the life He lived. However, He did it in a radically different way than we tend to. When we are attacked by others there is a tendency to equate the attack as fair or unfair. The challenge with this kind of thinking is that we are dealing with imperfect people. They can attack or judge based on the emotion of the moment and not the reality of the situation.

I love what Peter says here about Jesus. Jesus entrusted Himself to the smile of one person, that being His Heavenly Father. When we follow in Jesus' footsteps here there is no guarantee that other's will not attack. But, I believe in the moment when we do face an unfair attack that the Holy Spirit comes in during that time of weakness and lends support. Sometimes that is in a strengthening whisper, in boldness, in clarity. This brings me hope.

Heart and Soul,
BAG
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Chosen, Royal, Holy, Taken

1 Peter 2:9 (NIV)
^"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

Knowing what we are helps us know what is expected of us. Peter describes who we are as believers and in return challenges us in how we live. God has chosen us above all other creation. He loves us that much to choose us! He has called us into a royal priesthood. This applies to all the believers regardless if they are committed to full time ministry. We are to carry out the duties and commands of the Lord each day of our lives. He has made us into a holy nation. This goes so much deeper than just a conservative or liberal outlook on life. If studies are accurate there are millions upon millions of us world-wide. I think it's probably a good time to awaken from our slumber and start standing for the right things.

Peter wraps up this verse with giving us direction for living. We are to declare the praises of God for what He did for each of us. I love the imagery because it is both figurative and literal. We have been called out of the darkness by the light of the Father. What a wonderful light this indeed is.

Heart and Soul,
BAG
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Crave

1 Peter 2:2 (NIV)
"Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,"

A thought occurred to me this morning while reading this verse about babies and milk. Newborns are suppose to get all their nutrients from milk for a large part of their first year of life. In fact that is all they know. It is all that exists for them... and they know it.

Peter challenges us to crave God's spiritual nutrition the same way a newborn craves milk. I think this is beautiful poetry and application. If God is all we knew was there to supply our needs, we would be more apt to coming only to Him for nutrition. The challenge we face is that we convince ourselves that He (in our own minds) is not the only source of fulfillment. So we go searching for it. We taste other gods thinking they taste the same but knowing down in our hearts there is something lesser, weaker about what we are tasting.

What would happen if today you and I lived as if God's supply was everything? Peter tells us the answer lies in that when we taste, we will see that the Lord is good.

Heart and Soul,
BAG
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Taking God at His Word

1 Peter 1:23 (NIV)
²³ For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

For we have been born again---- this is the great rescue that God has made possible to all who believe in Him. We who had no hope have been given hope through Jesus Christ.

Not of perishable seed---- because of sin this perishable seed is not only death, but a separation from a beautiful relationship with our Heavenly Father.

But of imperishable---- but God in His infinite knowledge and love saw because of our choice in sin that we were without hope and made possible a way for us.

Through the living and enduring word of God---- here is where faith plays such and important role. We literally have to take God at His word. We can have confidence in that what He is saying is the truth but to stake your life on it is a different subject all together. He promises us so many things and we would be wise to explore the possibilities of what He is speaking into our hearts. The more we realize that He has been honest with us the more willing we are to trust in Him in future situations.

Heart and Soul,
BAG
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Sincere Love

1 Peter 1:22 (NIV)
²² Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.

Peter leads us to believe that we pursue purity because it leads to love. He instructs us to go even further in saying that we should have sincere love for our brothers and a deep love for everyone. This morning the word "SINCERE" is the center of my focus. It is very easy to show respect without love. To show care without love. To show tolerance without love. Peter tells us that we are suppose to show our brothers a kind of love that is selfless, sacrificing and attractive. When we show love without an agenda that is always attractive. If you show love with conditions there is a tendency to only display love when it is of benefit to you. That is where God comes into the picture. He displayed for all of us the greatest act of love. Making it possible to accept us while we are living in sin. This reality is so easy to push into the back of the mind (we kind of do that with all of life's mysteries, like how the microwave works). Sincere love comes from a heart that has been redeemed. It is a reactionary love.

Heart and Soul,
BAG
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Self-Control

1 Peter 1:13 (NIV)
^...be self-controlled; ...

Peter writes the statement as if it is as simple as that. Just control yourself!!! For me this is a constant battle. yesterday I was determined to do this, but faster than I decided to pursue self-control a series of events outside my control seemed to launch an attack. After reacting in a way that I was sure wasn't under self-control this thought occurred to me. I am not sure who said it but I am confident this is not an original thought bouncing in the head of BAG:

I can not fully control the actions of others. I can only control the actions of myself. This is self-control.

Because I can not dictate others emotions and desires, I must pre-decide much of my responses. Self-control can save us from many challenges down the road.

The good news is, even though yesterday was a challenge and I may have failed in my pursuit. Today is a new day. I will choose to have control over my actions, my emotions and my desires.

Heart and Soul,
BAG
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Preparing Your Minds For Action

1 Peter 1:13 (NIV)
¹³ Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Prepare your minds for action...
I am wondering what Peter was talking about when he instructs us to prepare our minds for action. I am curious as to why he wouldn't us the word "heart" here. So much in Jesus' teaching deals with the heart and how important preparing and protecting the heart is for us believers. Instead Peter challenges us to prepare our minds for action.

If the heart holds the emotion, the mind holds the knowledge and the strategy. This section of scripture is shared after Peter talks about the eminent return of Jesus. He is telling us how to live as we anticipate the second coming. I think he may be telling us to prepare our minds so we can pre-decide our actions. By doing this we are less likely to fall into the traps of the evil one and our own selfish desires. Preparing our minds is important because not all logic is bad.

Heart and Soul,
BAG
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Pursuing Holiness

1 Peter 1:13-16 (NIV)
"Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."

There is a lot to unpack in these few verses. I feel a leading to camp here this week. Peter is challenging us in how we follow God. I know for me that it is easy to get comfortable in my desire to draw closer to God. I think that is kind of what happens when we know that He will never walk away. However, just because He will not walk away doesn't mean we should treat Him as if we do not take the mission He has given us for granted.

The pursuit of holiness can be a tricky one to say the least. It is one where you never arrive and once you think that you do then you really need to take a step back. We pursue holiness because we serve a Holy God. Actually pulling that off is dependent on how determined we are to reflect the attributes of our Him who created us.

Heart and Soul,
BAG
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2 Kings Seventeen

There was one verse that resounded in my spirit this morning as I was reading about the nations exile.

It is a part of verse 15....
"They followed worthless idols and
themselves became worthless."

What an intersting description of who these people became because of what they were pursuing. As they pursued worthless idols they inherited the traits of worthless idols.

I believe this principle rings true still in our lives.
If we pursue hate we become people of hate.
If we pursue apathy, we become people of apathy. If we puruse hope, we become people of hope.
If we pursue love, we become people of love.

Pick a single quality this week of something you wish to pursue and put this theory to the test. Though a week isn't necessarily a long amount of time, I believe you will start seeing some effects of it.

Heart and Soul,
BAG
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