8 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. 11 They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” 

Remember Peter is speaking to a group of people who are undergoing persecution for their faith.  How do you encourage people when they are going through hard times?   

Peter begins by bringing them to the reminder of the basics of their faith - God chose you. Don't forget that. He loves you even though right now you may not sense that. He has a plan and is carrying it out even now and because you are remaining faithful to Jesus Christ you will be especially blessed when Jesus Christ returns. Your heavenly inheritance, which is far greater than any job, any family, any position, any money is reserved for you by God Himself. Part of what you are going through is God's means of making you more like Jesus Christ and perfecting your character and teaching you important spiritual lessons if you are willing to hear it.   

Also remember that all the people of the Old Testament and many in the early days of Jesus’ earthly ministry have not experienced the promise that Peter’s readers have experienced, seeing God fulfill His promise by sending His Son to earth and having Him die for your sins.  You have the Holy Spirit in you. No one else before Pentecost regularly and daily had God's Spirit dwelling continually in them. What a privilege!  

Now we must prepare ourselves by trusting Christ, for there will be more difficulties that we will be facing. We must  prepare ourselves by getting into the Word, by praying, by being holy and living a God pleasing life. Get rid of sin. Realize God is building a kingdom to reflect His glory. We are special as children of God.

Peter tells them, “You are to be strangers and aliens to this world so submit yourself to God in all things. While you live as a foreigner in this world you will never fit in.  But here is how you are to live - submit yourselves to all the authorities. Be the best you can be so there is no reason you will be punished. And if you are punished, may it be for God's purpose, not for your own problems. And if that is the case then God will reward you even more richly in His time. Your faithfulness in hardship and persecution will result in further witness for Jesus as others see a heart changed by God. Be strong in your commitment to your spouse and let Jesus be seen in your marriages. This is a quick summary of what he said until now.   

Now if God's desire is harmony and unity, what will Satan and his evil forces seek to do? They will seek to disrupt, cause divorce, cause church splits, cause disharmony, cause fighting and cause hatred to develop. Does that happen among Christian? Unfortunately, way too often!

Be careful how you live and act towards one another. acceptance in bars than in many churches? Don't believe it! Watch the police reports and find out how many times they are called to bars for fighting and how many times they are called to churches for fighting. Yet people are quick to pick up on churches that are in conflict. Why? Because we claim to be followers of one who said that he wants us to live together in unity and harmony, and we didn't live up to what our leaders want us to live.

Don't get me wrong. We can have differences of opinion. We can have ideas over which we have disagreements, I'm not talking about major doctrine issues, or outright immoral activity, but the fervor of hostility among brothers and sisters in Christ has escalated in greater proportions.  More pastors are leaving the ministry in record numbers because of conflicts. Certainly, some ought not to be pastors but others are being persecuted for simply saying what the Bible teaches and some people don't like it and some up with various excuses to make a pastoral change. Satan is at work.  

Was he at work in Peter's day?  Of course.  It is God's scriptural method of preparing ourselves as individuals against the attitude that is prevalent today of selfishness. Pride and power are part of that.

Application:   Pray God's Word back to Him

Prayer:   Lord, enable me to be like-minded with other believers, to be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Help me to remember that I am called to both be a blessing and inherit a blessing.   Keep my tongure from evil and deceitful speech.   Teach me how to seek peace and pursue it in all things.