Get ready to start a journey…a journey through the pages of the Bible and the pages of your life.
Peter exhorts followers of Christ to open their homes to fellow believers in need. Offer them warmth by the fire, food, and a place to sleep. The hosts were not to expect payment, allow the guests to stay as long as needed, and this was to be “without grumbling.” Hospitality is hard work. Guests may overstay their welcome. As Benjamin Franklin said, “Fish and visitors stink after three days.” But believers were to provide this ministry cheerfully.
“Hatred stirs up strife,” the proverb says (Proverbs 10:12a). It’s true, isn’t it? When we dislike a person, we want to prove them wrong. If they say, “Up,” we say, “Down!” If they say, “Right,” we say, “Left!” If they say the sky is blue, we argue it is more like turquoise. Dislike for another person drives us to demonstrate animosity. However, there is a second part to the proverb. “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses” (Prov 10:12b). Peter paraphrases this proverb in our passage today.
I often hear people say, “My goodness, with all the natural disasters around the world; the earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods, and all the wars and threats of more to come, the craziness of our culture calling wrong right and right wrong, we have to be living in the end times.” It’s true. Peter makes the point in our passage today.
1 Peter 4:7
The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.
The message of the gospel is a message of grace, hope, and transformation. The power of the gospel stops a person in their tracks, causes them to realize their sin, and turns them to God. The gospel is not about being born into a Christian home, going through catechism, attending church, or being a good moral person. It is about life transformation.
Some will think your lifestyle is strange. Your stance on truth doesn’t change based on the whims of the culture. You may be called bigoted for believing life begins at conception and should be protected. It certainly is not “woke” to believe that gender is assigned by God as he knitted us together in the womb.
Peter’s list of vices is a repulsive reminder of our lives apart from Christ. The sins noted above were not occasional places we visited. We were “living in” them. These offenses characterized our lives and defined who we were. But now things are different. We spent enough time in the past living like pagans chasing after human desires. Now it’s time to follow hard after Christ.