1 Peter 3:13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?
People are like books sometimes. If you hang around them long enough, you can determine their motives. A positive person has a huge impact on any social situation, including the church. A negative person is like a poison that infiltrates the group and leads to sickness and even death. The people around us will respond to our negative attitude and words.
As we read this verse, we should remember the context of this whole letter. Peter is writing to believers who are experiencing persecution and suffering. Some may have been slaves. Their faith was being tested. Those who were suffering for their faith could give several different types of responses to their persecutors. They could respond with a pity party and feel sorry for themselves. This demotes and suppresses the growth of faith and rubs off negatively on the people around us. Or, when we might experience persecution, we can do as Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount and turn the other cheek and respond in love. This may or may not stop the harm people want to do to us. Being eager to do good in a difficult situation has the way of melting away people’s motives to do us harm. It may not stop the harm but it makes this harm turn back upon the persecutors with the possibility of them experiencing guilt for doing the harm. At least that is the hope. Those persecutors who have rejected God’s light will also reject any guilt they feel for doing harm to others. We can hope that our pure motives and response of love will soften the harm people want to do to us. Whatever happens, we can seek to be positive because we know God is with us and the difficult situation can help our faith develop.
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