Ep 353 – 1 Peter 4:1-6

Are you prepared to live the life Christ died to provide? Are you ready to follow in His footsteps and to emulate His example? In 1 Peter 4:1-6, Peter is going to provide us with some strong words of encouragement and incentive to live in a dramatically different manner than we did before we knew Christ. As Peter has pointed out repeatedly in this letter, part of our new life will entail suffering. But rather than seeing suffering as an unnecessary burden or an unexpected setback to our new life in Christ, we are to see it as part of the process of sanctification that God has planned for us. Part of the reason behind our suffering will be because our lost friends will not understand why we do the things we do, and they will attack us. Our new lives in Christ will convict them, because we are no longer willing to go along with their sinful lifestyles or to condone their actions with our mutual participation. When, with the help of the Spirit of God, we stop sinning like we did before, our friends will not understand us. In fact, they won't like us or tolerate us. But we are to continue to live like Christ so that others might come to know Christ.