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

We are studying a "gem" of a passage this week, aren't we? Here it is again:

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 daysmust 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.”

Don't ya love it when we can get truly practical instructions from the Word? Peter says that there are five character qualities that go along with our "doing good" in our walk..... and he packs them all into verse eight!

First, "like-minded." I can think of some synonyms: harmonious, unselfish, considerate. A harmonious person seeks to get along with others; we won't be self-willed and we won't demand our own way. And we also won't judge others who don't go along with us! We are to be team players -- to consider the other person's perspective and give others room to be different. If we are harmonious, we will accept people as Christ accepts them. We'll pay attention to biblical absolutes, which cannot be compromised, and we will realize that there are areas where there's latitude for difference. We'll give people time to grow in Christ, and not look down on immaturity. When believers are seeking to conform their lives to the Word, we will have the same outlook and interests, and we will have harmony.

Second, "sympathetic."  What a great example our Savior gives us:

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. (Hebrews 4:15)

Our Savior sympathizes with our weaknesses, so we, too, should enter into what others are feeling. Paul told us to rejoice and to weep alongside other believers:

Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. (Romans 12:15-16)

We should be sensitive to how we would feel, if we were in the other person's place. We need to do all that we can to make him or her feel accepted and loved.

Third, "love one another." The word Peter uses is "philadelphoi" in the Greek, and means brotherly love. It is reminding his hearers that as believers we are members of the same family. But we must also show love to those outside the family of God, and seek to bring them into fellowship, for we are all members of the human family.

From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ (Acts 17:26-28)

Often an opportunity to be brotherly toward another person opens the door for witness about our Lord Jesus.

Next, Peter mentions "kind-hearted." Some synonyms could be: tender-hearted, compassionate. The idea is to have genuine concern for another person. I guess it's not much different from "sympathetic," but both concepts reveal an emotional element needed in our Christian behavior: we need to truly be caring, and going beyond what we may think our "duty" is toward another person. They should be able to sense that we genuinely care for them from our hearts....

Lastly, "humble" in spirit.  This quality was not seen as a virtue in Bible times, and it certainly isn't seen as a positive by many people today! It was the early Christians who followed Christ and who elevated it as a virtue.
In our day, even Christian writers and counselors seem to have reverted to the old ways, since almost every book dealing with relationships says that we must learn to love ourselves and boost our self-esteem before we can love others. But the Bible says something quite different. Don't take my word for it, though:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (Philippians 2:3-4)

Hmmmmm. Did ya know that there is not one verse in the whole Bible that commands us to love ourselves? There are several verses that affirm that we do love ourselves and that command us to love others as much as we do love ourselves! (Obviously, I'm not addressing the situation of some folks who have difficulty accepting and loving themselves, and need the love of God and believers to assist them in seeing themselves in a positive light. They need to be loved and told that they are indeed special, children of our Father God, and that they have talents that only they can contribute to our world.)
What I AM saying is that many times pride and self are sources of conflicts, and that we should be considerate and loving, as Paul urges the Philippians to be. The Bible tells us that harmony can come when we work on our humility, not on pumping up our own self-esteem!

These five qualities can help us to develop healthy relationships with believers and unbelievers alike. Doing good in our walk can bring us an awesome result: the good life!
Tomorrow we'll look at "doing good" in our talk......