Be a Blessing

⁸ Finally,

all of you,

be like-minded

and

show sympathy,

love,

compassion,

and

humility

to

and

for

each other—

⁹ not paying back evil with evil or insult with insult,

but repaying the bad

with a blessing.

It was this

you

were called to do,

so that

you might inherit a blessing.

1 Peter 3:8-9

I’ve spread that out so I can take each bit and chew on it.

‘Finally’ Peter says, finally – this is the point he wants to leave them with and what a point. His whole message can be summed up with one word, love.

The world right now is full of anger over so many things. Fear makes us angry, it is that fight or flight thing. Peter (following what he heard from  Jesus) says ‘love’. Don’t repay evil with evil or insult with insult. Don’t repay hurt for hurt or threat for threat or injury for injury. Instead, repay the bad with a blessing. Instead, love when it costs me a lot.

But it’s not just about the ‘big’ issues; it’s about the ones in my house, in my street, in my church, in my city. The ones close to me are sometimes a lot harder to love than those a few thousand miles away ‘cos they are really real.

See if you can read that verse out loud, pausing for a second on each line and not feel your heart change. I can’t.