ATTITUDE SHAPES ALTITUDE
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Opening Prayer
Coming to your Word today, Lord, I seek you and look for truth. I am grateful to know you will never disappoint me and always meet my needs.
Read 1 PETER 2:11–17
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Living Godly Lives in a Pagan Society
11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. 16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. 17 Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.
Reflect
Are there areas where you feel torn in today’s political environment?
Our own behavior can puzzle us greatly. In verse 11, Peter views each believer as an integrated whole. Our physical desires pull or push us in multiple directions. We are each a war zone! Such biblical insights into the nature of what is going on inside us can be difficult to accept. As we have been working our way through 1 Peter, we see that being submissive is not merely an attitude demonstrated in our behavior toward others. It is an intellectual attitude we do well to cultivate toward the Lord our God. Many of the statements in the Bible could otherwise have the power to offend us.
We are urged to behave well (vv. 12–15) in the world, more for the sake of God’s good name than for our own. The underlying theme is to cultivate submissiveness, which will sometimes be contrary to our own initial convictions. We must show genuine respect to political and administrative authorities. Those of us living in countries with repressive rulers, where abhorrent abuses of power take place, may find this hard to accept. Acknowledging that we may struggle to accept God’s will is not a contradiction of our Christian convictions. Life is complicated. Perhaps that’s why Peter encourages us to cultivate the attitude of serving God obediently by using our lifestyles to showcase God’s values. We can do this, but God never presumes our assent. We are partners, not slaves.
We may not immediately see changes in the society we live in, but we can and do have control over our inner attitudes. This is why the direction of change emphasized in the Scriptures is inward rather than the other way around.
Apply
Imagine your role as an ambassador for Jesus before a secular ruler. What difference would this role-play make to your daily priorities, attitudes, and activities?
Closing prayer
Holy Spirit, continue to shape me into the image of Christ so that I can bear more eternal fruit for his kingdom.
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