Once again, as 1 Peter 4 begins, Peter encourages his readers to stand strong in the face of persecution, and to continue living for God. In doing so, he makes some extraordinary statements! Take at look at the first part of this chapter in 1 Peter 4:1-2.
Peter realizes that the temptation for believers to fall back into their old lifestyles of sin is strong. As he begins this next section of his letter, he encourages his readers to stay strong, and to avoid that. It was true then, and is still true today, that the pull of our culture is a strong force. We feel the pressure to conform to the “norm,” regardless of what that may be. And when we stand up against it, our culture heaps abuse and torment upon us.
Peter’s encouragement here is to follow Christ in spite of this. Christ suffered “in his body.” This is a very similar phrase to what Peter wrote in 3:18, where he says Christ “was put to death in the body.” Peter’s connection is clear, and his point is that we need to arm ourselves with the same attitude that Christ had, and be willing to face such suffering when it comes. This sounds very similar to Paul’s admonition to take the same attitude as Christ in Philippians 2.
Peter’s next statement is a mind blowing concept, one which I think many present-day Christians forget all too often. He states that when we suffer for doing God’s will, we demonstrate that we are done living in defiance of God’s will, we are done with sin. We show the world that we are ready to live for God, even if it involves suffering and persecution. In other words, sin holds no power over us, because we belong to God. When we take up the same attitude as Christ, we long for his will, and no longer long for sin. We have decided to stop sinning.
In our world, we like to play the victim. “I can’t help myself.” “It’s my nature.” “I was created this way.” Peter says something very different. When we face suffering for the sake of God, we have “bought in” with everything we have. And we reject sin. We do not allow sin a foothold in our lives. This often seems impossible to do, but through the power of Christ’s death and resurrection, we are able!
The result, Peter says, is that we now live for something bigger than ourselves. We have a purpose for living; our priorities have changed. We are out of the sinning business, and we live only for God.
Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? Sounds almost too good to be true. But what Peter has just told us is a fundamental truth that can change the very foundations of our life. Rejecting sin and living for God is not some wishful thinking, or a hopeful dream. It’s a reality that we can have. It’s true!
And that is a wonderful thing!
Question: Do you have the attitude of being “done with sin?” What do you need to let go of in order to live more fully for God? You can leave a comment by clicking here.