Peter asks: “why would anyone harm you if you are passionate and devoted to pleasing God?”
(1 Peter 3:13)
Or in other terms, why would bad things happen to good people?
This is more rhetorical, because he is writing to a persecuted Christian community after all and I think a lot gets lost in the translations these days. Maybe if we added emoticons to the bible verses so that we can know what was Peter’s intentions or mood when he wrote this (facepalm)
The word “harm” for instance, is to me, a soft choice. The Aramaic literally says “do evil to you”
Peter’s answer to his own question is actually not what we would expect. He doesn’t answer why… His response is: IT IS going to happen, (because we live in a world occupied by evil) so the question to answer is not WHY but rather How to respond when it happens.
So first: count it as Joy, because God will bless you because of it.
Secondly (and more practically) he quotes Isaiah and says:
“Don’t be intimidated or terrified
By those who would terrify you”
Peter connects the ideas in verse 16:
“Maintain a clean conscience, so that those who slander you for living a pure life in Christ WILL HAVE TO LIE ABOUT YOU and will be ashamed because of their slander.”
It doesn’t mean they will just feel bad of speaking untruth, the word goes deeper, they will be ashamed and shamed, put to disgrace and dishonour. Because they will be trapped in their lie.
Now, the interesting thing here, as I make my To-do list on my clipboard, about how I am supposed to live as a “Persecuted Christian” in modern society, is quietly woven through the passage.
Verse 13 makes the assumption I am devoted to God
Verse 15 tells me to Give honour to God, and
Verse 15 also tells me to share the gospel with anyone who asks, gently & with respect…
Verse 16 shouts that I must remain brutally honest even if it puts me in a bad light,
But verse 17 is the one I misread. I know this verse since I was a little kid. I know it like I know my grandmother’s custard pudding. “For it is better to suffer for doing good, than for doing evil…”
Except… that is not what it says…
“For it is better to suffer for doing good, IF IT IS IN GOD’S PLAN, than for doing evil…”
Seek first the Kingdom.
Stay in God’s purpose,
Follow your calling.
Pain and suffering will come to you, and handle it when it comes… but do not mistake suffering for the sake of suffering as part of your purpose for which you will be blessed. Especially if you are the cause of your own suffering…
