1 Peter 3:10-12

1 Peter 3:10-12

For the one who desires to love life and to see good days, let him cause his tongue to cease from evil and his lips to not speak deceit.  And let him cease from doing evil and rather let him do good and let him look for peace and let him pursue it, because the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous ones and His ears are into their prayers but the face of the Lord is upon the ones who do evil.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

This whole passage is a quote from Psalm 34:12-16. In it we have a pattern of behavior that the Lord is setting before us so that we might choose to follow it.  Remember that over the last two days in 1 Peter we’ve been talking about men and women doing good.  This quote is lifted up in support of his point.  So what are we to do?  The righteous ones need to keep our tongues and our mouths in check.  How much of the evil that we end up doing starts as a thought on the lips or a hastily spoken word to another person?  Doesn’t James remind us in James 3:4-5 that the tongue is like the rudder of a ship?  Even though it is so small, it steers our direction!  Doing good starts with training our lips for good.  If we can keep evil from coming out of our mouth, we are well ahead of the game!

What role does your tongue play in the sin that is in your life?  How much sin could you have avoided in the past by keeping your tongue quiet?

Second Thought:

The next step in doing good is actually stopping ourselves from doing evil.  That might sound rather obvious, but remember that this is a follow-up from the first point.  We focus on the tongue and our words.  Once we get a handle on that, the amount of genuine evil in our life should diminish.  The fight against our actions should be made easier if we tame the tongue first.  However, we can’t just stop doing evil.  Idle hands are the devil’s playground, or so they say.  So Peter tells us that we need to seek peace and actively pursue it.  In fact, we are to let other people pursue peace, too.  In doing good, we need to be active in pursuing peace ourselves and not getting in the way of other people as they pursue peace for themselves!

Where do you still fight evil in your actions?  Where do you pursue peace?  Where do you see people pursuing peace around you?  Are there any places in your life where you are actually hindering the people around you from pursuing peace?

Third Thought:

Finally, Peter reminds us of the psalmist’s conclusion.  God’s eyes and ears are upon the righteous and their prayers.  If we want God to see us and hear us, we should let go of evil and pursue peace.  However, God’s face is upon the wicked.  If you think about this for a second, you will actually see the depth of the meaning of the psalm.  How do you know that a person cares about you and has your attention?  You can see it in their eyes.  Their eyes are soft and probing and focused upon you.  But how do you know that you have a person’s wrath?  The whole face is a wall against you, keeping you from impacting them.  That is how the psalmist speaks about God as well.  When we are doing righteousness, God’s eyes probe deep into our lives in compassion.  But when we do evil, He sets His face against us.

When have you felt the loving eyes of God upon your life?  When have you experienced the face of God against you?  How do you know?

Passage for Tomorrow: 1 Peter 3:13-17