… because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.
Summary: Peter gives us an important lesson in why God has called us. He wants us to stop responding to hurts and insults with more hurts and insults. Instead, he wants us to respond with a blessing, just as he has blessed us.
Sometimes I feel like I have been staring at this text so long that I am starting to see Ezekiel’s wheels within wheels (Ezekiel 1:16, ESV). Everything seems interconnected with everything else. Today’s passage presents one of those moments.
“… because of this…” refers to the instruction to not repay evil with evil in the first part of the verse. Then, Peter offers us an interesting sentence construction. It goes like this:
1. Because God wants the people he created to be nice to each other.
2. He called people to him through the forgiveness made possible by the sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ.
3. So that they may inherit a blessing.
What blessing is Peter referring to? At the very beginning of his letter, Peter explains. He writes: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you …” (1 Peter 1: 3-4a)
Doesn’t it sound like he is talking about being born again (“new birth”) and being given eternal life (“an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade”)?
So Peter is telling us this:
Because of God’s desire that all of us repay evil with a blessing, we were called so that we may inherit the blessing of eternal life.
Do I have that right? Does that even make sense? Well yes, it does. It is just that I have never thought about it this way before.
In Nathan’s sermon this Sunday he spoke about “checking the box.” I like this expression because it is very descriptive. As Christians, we are prone to think this way. If I check the “I believe in Jesus” box, if I check the “I’ve been baptized” box, and if I check the “I went to church” box, then I’m good, right?
Those are all good things for Christians to do, but Peter has given us something else to think about: Are you repaying evil with a blessing?
Come to think of it, isn’t that what Jesus did? The world killed him (that’s pretty evil!) and his response is to offer us eternal life.
This verse we are studying today might be one of the most important verses in the Bible. Peter lays out God’s reasons for calling us to him through Jesus so that we can inherit eternal life.
Application: The next time someone does or says something to you that feels insulting or hurts in some way, respond with a blessing.
Food for Thought: If you feel insulted, how can you bless the person who insulted you?
Pray
Thanks Tim!
You bring to mind a quote from “Fiddler on the Roof” —
Leibesh: Is there a proper blessing for the czar?
Rabbi: A blessing for the czar? Of course. May God bless and keep the czar… far away from us.
I like Tim’s answer. Mathew 5: 44; Luke 6: 28; Romans 12: 14.
Great verses, Rich!
Bless and do not curse. Oh, and BTW … pray!
Or whoever T is, I was assuming it was Tim.
You are Righteously correct Rich.
Forgive them!
Leviticus 19:18 Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
Luke 6:27-28 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”
Romans 12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
Ron,
Forgiving someone when they hurt you can be an incredible blessings. It might also be an invisible one. If a person holds a belief that offends you, and you forgive them, they may never know that they have offended you or that they have been forgiven. Yet the fact that you DID forgive them is a blessing.
Words have power,..T said to pray,..prayer is powerful,..the prayer of a righteous man is effective,..
It’s not easy holding back the tongue when insulted, Christian or not,..because out of the mouth comes deceit, lies and such,..it’s not what goes in but what comes out,..and the heart is deceitful and beyond cure,..who can understand,..only God Who knows the heart on man,..
So when I get insulted,..praying is good but so is heaping burning coals on top of their heads,..I take the insult and throw back at them words that,.. in a manner of speaking,.. burn with delight,..
David had some prayers,..some effective ones at that,..he got insulted a lot,..his words burn with delight,..he heaped a lot of coals on the heads of those that insulted him,..all through the power of prayer,..
So John,
Is a person who has coals on their head a “hot head?” 🙂
I think the burning coal thing is especially effective is someone is intentionally trying to hurt a person. The sweet, loving and forgiving response is the antithesis of wanting to hurt, and that shines a very bright light on the evil that is being done.
Hot Head,..I like it,..I think I will use it,..Hey Hot Head,..
👍🏻