Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: 1 Peter 3-4 and Psalm 44

⁸ Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. (1 Peter 3:8)

⁸ Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. ⁹ Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. ¹⁰ Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. (1 Peter 4:7-10)

In these two chapters, Peter encourages his readers to remain faithful to the Lord Jesus in the face of much suffering and persecution. He calls them to be faithful to Jesus in the way they conduct themselves in marriage, to speak with gentleness and respect when falsely accused, slandered or maligned, and to live transformed lives of purity among their wild-living neighbours. He promises them that their holy and upright lives will be a powerful witness to unbelievers, who may even be won over by the beauty and purity of their lives (2:1-12, 15-16).

In both chapters (in 1:8 and 2:8) Peter presents the pinnacle of the believer’s calling as being love for one another. Knowing that we are being closely watched by an unbelieving world that is eager to find fault with us and slander our Lord; knowing that the Lord is among us by His Spirit even now; and knowing that the Lord’s return is near; our most important response is to love and serve one another “deeply” (2:8). The NIV translates the Greek adverb “ektenes” in this command as “deeply”. It literally means to be “stretched out” and older translations render it “fervently”. “Ektenes” was often used of an athlete straining every muscle to win a race.

So our call is to put in every effort to love one another with humility, compassion, sympathy, hospitality and service. And the point of doing so is not only to please the Lord (who is near) but also to be a beautiful witness as a community – to show the world around us the beauty of Christ’s love as we live it out towards one another in our daily lives.

Life application: Focus on using your gifts and abilities to serve the best interests of a fellow Christian today. Humbly and compassionately do something – anything – to make their life better or easier. This will please the Lord and will shine the beauty of His love to all those who have eyes to see it.