Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

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March 14th - 1 Peter 3:9
1 Peter 3:9 Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing. If you have ever been insulted, you will know that the immediate reflex reaction is to want to even the score. In the pain of the moment, we are all inclined to cry out for justice because it’s just not right that people should get away with insulting us. It would seem that Peter’s readers were well used to being insulted. Christianity was a new phenomenon, and its teachings stood in sharp contrast to the thinking of the time. Christians faced verbal and physical attacks on a regular basis. Christians have been under attack throughout the past 2,000 years. There are horrifying stories of the ways in which the Salvation Army was attacked in this country in the latter part of the 19th century. There are distressing accounts of dead animals, some set alight, being hurled at passing Salvationists as they processed through the streets. Others threw stones, paint-filled eggs, burning coals and rotten fish. Chamber pots were emptied from upper windows over the heads of men and women below. Thousands of people were injured, and some were killed. And in our own day there are many Christians around the world who live with continual abuse and persecution because of their faith. Facing insults is incredibly tough; if you are experiencing this at the moment then you have my heartfelt sympathy. It’s understandable that you would want to fight back. But Jesus shows us a completely different way. He calls us to respond with blessing. That’s easy to say, and incredibly difficult to do but that is the way of Christ. This proves to us once again that it is absolutely impossible for us to live the Christian life in our own strength. We need to ensure that we depend completely upon the strength that God gives us. Only as we allow his Spirit to fill us can we possibly live in this way. Question If you have recently been insulted, how are you going to bless that person? And if you haven’t had such an experience, how will you be able to equip yourself to respond to any future insult with blessing? Prayer Lord God, I recognise that I need your strength every moment of every day. Amen
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3:23
March 13th - 1 Peter 3:3-4
1 Peter 3:3-4 Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewellery or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. I don’t feel competent to comment on fancy hairstyles, expensive jewellery or beautiful clothes! However, I don’t believe that Peter was saying that these things were wrong in themselves. His point was that they shouldn’t be our priority, and they certainly shouldn’t become a matter of concern for us. Our priority needs to be our inner selves – our character. Our society is obsessed with image. What matters is how we look and the impression that we leave on other people through our appearance. There is no doubt that these things can easily become a matter of anxiety and Jesus drew attention to this. In his Sermon on the Mount, he spoke about people’s anxiety about their food or clothing. He pointed to the birds and observed that they were perfectly cared for by God, and he reasoned that if God was able to look after them then he would be absolutely sure to care for us too (Matthew 6:25-30). Caring for our character is both immeasurably more important than our hairstyle, jewellery or clothes and much harder work. A couple of hours spent in a hair salon and doing some shopping might succeed in giving us a completely new look, but the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit will take much longer. It will need us to spend much time with God. Such a character won’t be the result of our efforts but will happen as we allow the Holy Spirit to renew us and mould our thinking and actions. This is the real, lasting beauty that we all need to seek. Question Why is the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit so precious to God? Prayer Loving God, thank you that your Holy Spirit is at work in my life. I pray that you will constantly renew my desire to look more like Jesus. Amen
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3:10
March 12th - 1 Peter 2:21
1 Peter 2:21 For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps. I’ve known many wonderful people, and I am sure you have as well. I have only to think of words such as kindness, graciousness, love, thoughtfulness, joy, integrity, hospitality and hope, to be reminded of people who have reflected those qualities to me in a very special way. They weren’t perfect, but I saw something that was beautiful in their lives and my life has been enormously enriched through knowing them. It’s good to follow the example of other Christians and, on a number of occasions, the apostle Paul encouraged his readers to follow his example. But we need to remember that the supreme example that we need to follow is of Jesus himself. Jesus was unlike anyone else who has ever lived, because he was perfect. We are called to be disciples and that means deliberately looking at Jesus’ teaching and his way of life and allowing them to shape the way in which we live. There is an ancient Jewish blessing which says: “May you be covered by the dust of your rabbi.” That is to say, may you walk so closely behind your rabbi that the dust from his feet will fall upon you. Jesus is our rabbi and if we walk at a great distance from him, the dust from his feet will never fall on us. We need to organise our lives so that, day by day, his wisdom, love and joy influence everything that we do. Peter knew that his readers were going to face great difficulties in the future and that they needed to look at Jesus’ example because he stayed true to his Father, even when he faced the most terrible suffering. Whatever we face in the coming days we cannot do better than deliberately follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Question What will it mean for you to follow in the footsteps of Jesus today? Prayer Lord Jesus, help me to love you more dearly and follow you more nearly today. Amen
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3:10
March 11th - 1 Peter 2:18
1 Peter 2:18 You who are slaves must submit to your masters with all respect. Do what they tell you—not only if they are kind and reasonable, but even if they are cruel. Everything about slavery is horrifying. The idea that someone could own another human being sounds barbaric, and so it is difficult for us to handle a verse like this. Context is so important. At the time of the early Church, slavery was extremely common. About 20 per cent of the population were slaves and there was never any serious thought that the institution should be dismantled. It’s also important to realise that under Roman law, slavery was heavily regulated. Slaves received very low wages but they lived with the hope that one day they might be able to purchase their freedom. Slavery at any time is an odious idea, but clearly the experience was nowhere near as hellish or dehumanising as it became during the centuries of the transatlantic slave trade. It has been suggested that a better translation of the word slave could be servant, or even employee. Suddenly this verse has something to say to our own day. We should show respect to our employers, and we should do so because, ultimately, all authority derives from God. This means that we should be respectful of them, even when they are wrong. This is tough talk, but Peter knows that such an attitude is far more likely to commend the Christian faith than retaliation. Peter strengthens his argument by reminding his readers that even though Jesus was terribly mistreated he didn’t fight back. He could easily have commanded a legion of angels to destroy his oppressors, but he didn’t. Tough as it undoubtedly is to suffer ill treatment, we need to learn from Jesus and walk in his steps. Question How would you respond if your employer treated you in a cruel way? Prayer Loving Father, give me your strength to live in a way that pleases you, even when it’s really hard to do so. Amen
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3:05
March 10th - 1 Peter 2:16
1 Peter 2:16 You are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. On the face of it this verse doesn’t seem to make much sense. Surely freedom means that you can do whatever you like? All constraints have been thrown off and you can do exactly what pleases you. But it doesn’t take long to realise that this kind of freedom would be a horrific experience. If you were able to do whatever you wanted, then you would have a licence to dominate everyone else and to destroy whatever you liked. Freedom ruled by our own selfishness would be nothing less than hell on earth. The New Testament introduces us to the concept of true freedom, and that can only be found by being slaves to God’s will. By finding his perfect will for us we are set free to be everything that God intended us to be. When we get to heaven God will not ask us: “Why weren’t you like Abraham, Moses, David or the apostles?” He will look to us to be everything that we were created to be, which will be very different from everyone else. A fish would not be free if it were taken out of the sea, and an eagle would not be free if it were not allowed to fly in the sky. By the same token, we are not free until we learn what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. All the time we allow the world to rule our values, thinking and expectations we will be chained and completely unfree. However, as we live in step with the Spirit, his fruit will flow from our lives and we will not only experience freedom for ourselves, but also naturally encourage others to find that same freedom for themselves. Question Are you free? Prayer Loving Father, thank you that you not only call me to a life of freedom but also fill me with your Spirit to enable me to live freely. Amen
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2:56