Replacing the Heart Breaking Reality (1 Peter 3)
All kinds of touchy subjects in today’s reading (1 Peter 3) but I’m not trying to teach through the New Testament, but instead to share an application for the situation I’m in (planting a church on the Vegas Strip) from each day’s reading. So…
There’s all kinds of research which reveals the heart-breaking reality that people who call themselves Christians don’t live different from those who don’t. There’s just as much pornography, divorce, cheating on taxes, you name it. No wonder the church (at least in America) is declining rapidly and losing it’s impact and voice in the world.
It’s interesting that Peter assumes people will ask Christians about their faith, their love, the hope they have. Why? Because he assumes people will see the difference in Christians. (People won’t ask about something they’re not aware exists.) He assumes Christian marriages will be different, and that we’ll live in harmony, and that we’ll choose to suffer for what is good.
So I don’t know about you, but I have to ask myself: Are people asking me questions about how different I am? And, if not, what’s wrong with how I’m living the Christian life? (My assumption: I’m putting my energy into being different rather than putting energy into being in Jesus. If I focus on being in Jesus, He’ll make me different.)