I Peter 3:8-12 Good days, good life

Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For,“Whoever would love life   and see good days must keep their tongue from evil   and their lips from deceitful speech. They must turn from evil and do good;   they must seek peace and pursue it.  For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous   and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” (I Peter 3:8-12)

Ahhhhhh, good days.....
What makes a good day for you?
Sunshine? Warm weather?
Or at the opposite end of the spectrum, jingle bells and snowflakes to catch on your tongue?
Or do we long for the "good life"?
What do we think of when we think of a good life.....someplace where rich and famous people are lounging around a pool or cruising by in their incredibly expensive cars?
Those people aren't any happier than average people are. In fact, some of them are WAY more miserable than most!
(Personally, I think the good life is being down on the floor playing with grandkids. But that's just me.)

Peter is talking about the good life here in our verses. He's quoting from the Psalms, too, to back up what he says.
Let's dive in!
What is the good life and how do we live it? The truly good life comes from having God's blessing upon us. And whether we realize it or not, all of the groundwork that Peter has laid so far in his letter, is vitally important for receiving those blessings.....because God's blessing is pretty much inseparable from having good and honest relationships with others.

Yup. Seriously. That's why Peter has gone to great length in his letter so far. He's told us repeatedly how to interact with others. There are some other verses that shed light on this, too:

Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. (I John 4:20)

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matthew 22:37-39)

Being rightly related to God and to others sums up the message of the Bible. So the good life is twisted together with good relationships, just like the strands of a rope. You can't have the one without the other.
Seriously. Think about it. If, so far as you are concerned, you are at peace with others:

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. (Romans 12:18)

....then life is sweet, even if we don't have a garage full of expensive cars, jewelry that rivals the showcase at Tiffany's, or the biggest stock portfolio ever.  Even if we don't have an abundance of things, life is sweet.
But if we are constantly at odds with others, then we can have all the stuff in the world, and life just isn't so good.

The passage that Peter quotes is from Psalm 34. It says that if we want to love life (really live it to the fullest, and be contented) and see good days (true happiness and the blessing of God) then we must do some things with our lips and with our lives.
Uh oh.
Sounds to me like Peter is zeroing in on "walk the walk, don't just talk the talk."
Does it sound that way to you, too?
Peter is summing up the section of the letter where he tells us how to live as aliens or pilgrims in this wicked world. It's a theme that will keep going into chapter four, to tell you the truth! We Christians are to be distinct in our behavior, noted for obedience to God and for submission to proper authority.... whether government, employer, or in the home. The commands that he has given us are radically different from the world and its ways -- and they are even opposed to our own natural inclinations. But if we live like Peter tells us, we will have a powerful witness for God.

This week we are going to look at how we should live, to experience the "good life." Now, before we get started, we do need to remember that our motive for living this way should be to please God and to glorify Him. The enjoyment we find in life is a result of our seeking to please God. I guess we can think of glorifying God in the way the world says, "make someone look good." When we seek to glorify Him and obey His commands, we inherit a blessing:

Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. (verse 9)

On the other hand, when our motive is selfish, like using God as a Great Benefactor in the Sky, we come up unfulfilled. We shouldn't selfishly try to use God to make ourselves happy. If we do that, we will be as empty as the gas tank we forgot to fill before we started out on a trip....

Yup. Peter is going to tell us that there are two areas where we must seek to please God -- there's our walk (behavior and attitude) and our talk.

I have a feeling we may need some bandaids for our toes this week.....