What if We Believed?

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. (I Peter 3:12)

What if we really believed this was true? How different would our lives be?

If we really believed that God's eye was watchful over the righteous person to prosper and protect them, then we would strive all the harder to make ourselves righteous. The fact that salvation is based on grace does not mean that wickedness and righteousness amount to nothing any more. It does not mean that our righteous and holy God suddenly stopped caring about just judgment and righteous rewards. No! Grace should drive us toward righteous living, not away from it. Grace sets us free to obey God. It doesn't give us a license to sin (Romans 6:15). But so many treat it that way. Righteousness still matters, believer! It still counts for something! As the psalmist says, "The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all (Psalm 34:19)."

If we really believed that God's ear is tuned to listen attentively to the prayer of the righteous person how would it change the way we live? How would it change the way we pray and who we ask to pray for us? This verse states that God is more apt to hear and answer the prayers of the righteous person. Has God been ignoring your prayers, believer? Perhaps there is a reason. If you will not listen to God and heed His instruction by obeying His commands, then tell me why the Almighty should bend His ear to listen to you and heed your requests? That isn't likely to happen, but as James says "the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working" (James 5:16). 

And if we really believed that the Lord sets His face against those who do evil to punish and oppose them, then we would all shutter at the thought of willfully disobeying Him. We would finally know why Scripture calls blessed those men who "do not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers" (Psalm 1:1). We would know why the psalmist set his heart to delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on it day and night (Psalm 1:2). And perhaps we would for the first time begin to see how important the instruction of God's Word is. For it is a lamp to our feet and a light to guide us down the paths that lead to eternal life (Psalm 119:105). If you turn aside from it into wickedness, "you can be sure that your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23).

So read this verse one more time, and this time...believe it!

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. (I Peter 3:12)

Slave of God

Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves.

1 Peter 2:16

Many translations of Scripture wrongly translate the word at the end of I Peter 2:16 as servant. We are familiar with the concept that we are God's servants, aren't we? In church we have heard quite a lot about being a servant of God. But the word "slave" hits us differently, doesn't it? The idea that we are slaves of God feels stronger to us and it is. 

A slave belongs to the person who owns them. They are his property. Just a few verses earlier I Peter 2:9 describes us this way: "You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession..." Every believer belongs to God. We are His possession. We were redeemed from (or bought out of) slavery to sin. The purchase price was the precious blood of the Lamb (see I Peter 1:18-19). And having been purchased we now belong to God. We have gone from being slaves to sin to being slaves of God. 

This should be obvious enough to us in Scripture, but it is often missed. If you need further evidence of this truth just think of how often Scripture reminds us that Jesus is Lord for the believer. In fact, confessing Jesus as Lord is required for salvation. Romans 10:9, says "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in you heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." If Jesus is Lord, then that makes the believer His servant, or more precisely...His slave. 

Are you "living as God's slave?" That's what I Peter 2:19 commands you to do. Are you directing your own life, living to fulfill your dreams and accomplish your goals, or do you think of yourself as God's slave who is free only to obey your Master and live to please Him? That may sound harsh and out of step with your concept of God, but I assure you that your greatest good and your deepest joy will be found not in living for yourself but in living to please your Lord. So surrender your life fully to God and seek to live in His will. Don't consider His commands to be optional for you and don't consider yourself free to do anything but obey Him. Live as God's slave.

Sojourners

Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.

I Peter 1:17

If you call on God as your Father, (that is if you are a Christian, then be reminded that He will one day come to judge men. His judgment will be fair and impartial and based on your deeds. Therefore, you should live your life on earth in the way that a stranger, an alien, a foreigner, or an immigrant might live temporarily in a foreign land.

The idea presented here is the opposite of the melting pot idea that America was built on. It's the idea of an alien who does NOT take on the customs and behavior of the country in which he now lives but continues to live like he is from a different culture and country. He knows all too well that he is only sojourning in this strange land and that he will soon return to his home country, so he lives as a representative of his home country in this foreign place. He is an oddity and a constant source of bewilderment for the people of the land where he now lives. But if he were to change to fit in with the people of this foreign land for the short time he is here, then he would spend a much longer time being an oddity and a bewilderment to the people of his home country when he returns. And that would be truly sad for a person to return to their home country and to be so changed that they end up living as a foreigner in the place where they should be most at home. 

So this passage warns you to have a reverent fear of the coming Judge and His judgment. Fear Him and avoid taking on the customs, behaviors and attitudes of this world. Live as a citizen of Heaven. If you fail at this, then you should expect to be judged when the day comes.

This means, among other things, that the believer should live a self-controlled and holy life. The way you talk should be different from non-Christians. The way you spend your money should be different. You should read different books and watch different TV shows and listen to different music. You should have a different attitude and way of treating people. You should even eat and drink differently (i.e. in a more self-controlled way). Every minor detail about how you live your life ought to be in line with the gospel and focused on Heaven. Perhaps verse fifteen puts it best. "Just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do..." 

So be holy friends. Be like Jesus. Be strange. Be weird. Be odd. Confuse people and make them ask questions about why you are so different. And whatever you do, do NOT live like everyone else! You don't want to get to heaven and be unrecognizable as a Christian because you became so much a worldling.

Don't be like Cain

Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.

I John 3:11-12

Don’t be like Cain! Cain didn’t love his brother. In fact, he allowed the sin in his life to cause him to hate Abel. And even though Abel had done no wrong, Cain struck out at him and killed him. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen this same dynamic play out in churches… minus the actual act of killing. Sin in your life will make you hate other believers and it will make you think it’s their fault when you do. 

Over and over again I have seen Christians get angry at other believers who they think they are judging them. But what’s really happening is this. When they get around a righteous man or woman of God, their conscience convicts them of their sin and they feel guilty. But they project that guilt onto someone else. They think “I must feel guilty when I’m around that person because they’re judging me.” So they strike out in anger at a perfectly innocent and righteous brother or sister in Christ.

Be careful or you will fall into this trap! Be on your guard against sin in your life. Don't give it even a foothold. And when the Holy Spirit does convict you of your sin, respond with repentance and thankfulness not an evil attitude of hatred for your brothers and sisters in Christ who are more righteous than you are. Don't let your sin cause you to hate other believers. We don’t need any more Cain’s in our churches.