The Art Of Neighboring: Week ThreeSample

Keeping our eyes on Christ will give us courage to love.

Pray

Heavenly Father, you are so generous to me, looking after me, constantly supplying me with grace. Thank you.

Read

Peter writes to a community of Jesus’s followers who are being persecuted because of their faith in Christ. He starts his letter to them with a reminder of the “living hope” (1 Peter 1:3 ESV) they share. Keeping their eyes on that hope will give them courage to face risk, pain, and suffering the way Christ faced them.

1 Peter 3:8-16

Reflect

Knowing that God is in control, that Christ is King, frees us to bless others. We don’t have to worry about protecting ourselves, since we know that our heavenly Father is already doing that.  When we do the hard and liberating work of obeying Christ, we find that our desires change to be more like his. We are “eager to do good” (verse 13 ESV) and even able to “love one another, and be kind and humble with one another” (verse 8 GNT). 

Respond

Perhaps you’re not here yet. Read verse 8 again. Think about that person who is so difficult to love. Ask God to make your heart tender towards him or her.