It seems like an impossible tall order: "Keep your behavior excellent" (1 Peter 2:12). In order to cut some slack, I would have opted for another word or phrase instead of "excellent"; like, "generally good". After all, whose behavior isn't subject to some degree of criticism from time to time. The key seems to be to behave in such a way as to not totally discredit the faith we profess. But, a little hypocrisy lurks in everyone's life.
Well, fact is we ARE called to keep our behavior "excellent"; not "generally good". And there is a key reason why we are to do so:
"Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation." (1 Peter 2:12)
Lest the word "Gentiles" trip you up, it's a word for non-believers; especially those who are antagonistically so. In the midst of criticism and persecution by vehement non-believers, we are admonished to keep our behavior excellent so that their abuse can be turned instead to praise and belief.
Much as an unbelieving world tries to disregard believers, in this area it is especially attentive. If cynics have cause for criticism, it is most likely to be found in how believers handle unjust suffering. The law of retaliation courses strong in our human bloodstream, but when it is absent, a skeptical world more fully realizes that the blood of the carpenter from Nazareth has been transfused in its place. When we respond to adversity supernaturally rather than naturally, we display compelling excellent behavior.
If the reminder of the impact of our behavior upon non-believers isn't sufficient motivation for excellent behavior, then perhaps a reminder of our true identify is: "But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9). Space here doesn't permit a detailed explanation of these descriptive phrases, but personal study of them is a profitable pursuit, if you have never done so. Learning more about who you are is powerful motivation for how you live.
Unbelieving eyes are on us today as we live your lives. Let's model a lifestyle that will turn them to praise.
Steve
© 2010, Steve Taylor
Well, fact is we ARE called to keep our behavior "excellent"; not "generally good". And there is a key reason why we are to do so:
"Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation." (1 Peter 2:12)
Lest the word "Gentiles" trip you up, it's a word for non-believers; especially those who are antagonistically so. In the midst of criticism and persecution by vehement non-believers, we are admonished to keep our behavior excellent so that their abuse can be turned instead to praise and belief.
Much as an unbelieving world tries to disregard believers, in this area it is especially attentive. If cynics have cause for criticism, it is most likely to be found in how believers handle unjust suffering. The law of retaliation courses strong in our human bloodstream, but when it is absent, a skeptical world more fully realizes that the blood of the carpenter from Nazareth has been transfused in its place. When we respond to adversity supernaturally rather than naturally, we display compelling excellent behavior.
If the reminder of the impact of our behavior upon non-believers isn't sufficient motivation for excellent behavior, then perhaps a reminder of our true identify is: "But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9). Space here doesn't permit a detailed explanation of these descriptive phrases, but personal study of them is a profitable pursuit, if you have never done so. Learning more about who you are is powerful motivation for how you live.
Unbelieving eyes are on us today as we live your lives. Let's model a lifestyle that will turn them to praise.
Steve
© 2010, Steve Taylor
posted by steve @ 8:02 AM
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