Doing Life Well

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER OF PETER

DOING LIFE WELL

1 Peter 2:18-25

18 Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. 19 For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. 20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. 21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 22 "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth."   23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

NIV

Well, of course, we are not slaves, as slavery has been abolished, at least in our country, and so we have to look at this in the context of the time it was written. There had to be slaves who had accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and yet remained as a slave. Does that speak to an issue, an elephant in the room, which we usually shy away from discussing? Could we say that just because we are believers, life is not always a bed of roses, but that we might find ourselves in very unpleasant situations? Just because their souls were saved, their bodies were still in slavery. However, today we could make this truth apply to the relationship between employee and employer. The difference is it is a contract between two free people. The difference here is that if the boss is too harsh with us, we could just quit, and go find a job elsewhere. But there are situations where that is not always possible and we need the current job or position we have and so must endure whatever employer we have. In large corporate situations, our particular position may be either changed in its role or eliminated altogether forcing us to either adapt or find an alternate position within the corporation. The point being is that we are always supposed to work as onto the Lord, no matter what situation we find ourselves in. That means we do our very best, we give our all to whatever we are employed to do. If we are let go because we failed to live up to the contract of our employment, what value is that? However, if we are let go, even though we have done the most excellent of work, but it is due to our faith, then we have suffered for righteousness sake. Of course, that would mean we have expressed our faith openly, not that we spent time from our job requirements to evangelize our fellow workers, but that we express our faith through typical conversations that occur either during work or in breaks or lunchtimes. To use our time that we receive payment for as something other than our assigned tasks, would, in some sense, be stealing from our employer, and again, if fired for that cause would bring disrespect onto the Lord. So as Peter uses Christ as the ultimate example of how we are to live out our lives in both the workforce and in our daily relationships, we do what is needed of us and keep silent, if we are attacked or persecuted in some manner. It seems that goes against the norm today as most people always want to get the last word in. So we should make every effort to live in peace with all men, all people, and by our love, they will know we are believers in Christ, as Jesus said that we not only are to love our neighbor but also our enemy. Let us live out our faith, showing the love of Jesus in all we do. Let us do life well as a believer.