May 28
/1 Peter 4:1-6 / Read
After first reading this passage, take a moment to pray with God. Thank him that he reveals himself through his Word. Believe that he speaks and that he may have a specific word for you today. Ask him to guide your understanding of the passage and posture yourself as a learner, eager to hear from him and to act based on what you hear.
Before moving to the content below, identify as best you can what you understand Peter’s main point to be in this passage. Record your answer somewhere.
Covenant is one of the major themes of the Bible. A covenant is a relational agreement, a binding contract about who the parties of the contract are and will do.
Throughout human history, God has initiated a covenant with his people. Over and over again, he invites them to let him be God and promises to love and care for them. He takes the identity of their Father and gives them the identity of his children. In return, he asks them to remain faithful to the relationship, to be obedient to his commands - not to earn his love, but because they trust his love.
In verse 3, Peter wrote that there are two ways of living: according to one’s own will or according to God’s will. When we consider our own lives, it seems fair to say that every thought, every decision, every action is carried out in one of these two ways. Either God is God and we live by his will or we are God and live to satisfy our “earthly human desires”.
What is your relationship with God like right now? What place does he have in your life? To what degree is your identity being found in who he says you are?
How well are you living out your side of your relationship with God? Where are you seeking to satisfy your own desires rather than obey his will - even if it costs you?
Do you see obedience as a requirement or the result of your relationship with God? Why does that question matter?
Peter seemed to acknowledge that living with God for God while in the world is a battle. He wrote that the strategy for victory was to arm oneself with the mindset of Jesus, which means accepting the reality that doing God’s will on earth will result in some sort of suffering.
This is a significant challenge for anyone who wants to follow Jesus, but Peter identifies an amazing reward that comes with it: freedom from sin.
Sin is disobedience to God. It’s living outside of his good and perfect will. What, then, does Peter mean that “whoever suffers in the body is done with sin” (vv. 1)?
Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
Where is disobedience to God controlling you? Do you desire freedom from it? Do you believe that you have the power of Jesus available to you by his Spirit?
Close your study of this passage with prayer. What do you sense that you need from God? How do you sense him leading you to live today in light of this passage?