Scripture to Read: 1 Peter 3:9
The attitude God lays out for us today in 1 Peter 3:9 is for us to make sure we’re not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead. God never wants us repaying evil for evil. God also doesn’t want us retaliating with insults when people insult us. Instead, God says to pay people back with a blessing. In our flesh (the shell we live in and which is bent toward every kind of evil, as seen in Galatians 5:19–21), we will always want to retaliate, get revenge, pay back evil for evil, and so on. But God wants our lives to look different since we’ve been redeemed from the power and penalty of sin by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. God makes this point clear again in Romans 12:17–19, Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. 19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Imagine if every believer walked according to this one Truth from God. Our world would look much different than it does right now. If believers never returned evil for evil, families would be healed, broken relationships would be restored, and we’d see God’s transforming work. It’s not that God is not working; it’s that His children are unwilling to obey Him.
Challenge & Application
· What difference would you see in people around you if they lived according to 1 Peter 3:9?
· How are you willingly paying back people with a blessing who have done evil to you?
Don’t forget to pray using the A.C.T.S. (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) method!