“ Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. 12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may cause because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation”-{1 Peter 2:11-12}

It’s About The Way You Live.-… As a Christ Follower…

In the end the only thing they could accuse them of was their “good deeds!” They had been slandered viciously and repeatedly. Historians tell us the followers of Christ in that day were accused of being insurrectionists, cannibalism, they sacrificed and would eat children, they were “atheists” because they denied Caesar was “LORD” and instead said Jesus was. They were accused of great immoralities, treason and having “Observed,”-{v12}. The word means “..long term reflective observation…” and after looking intently and long term at their lives, their accusers conclusion was, that the followers of Christ who had been “scattered“{1:1} were suffering greatly {1:6} and slandered relentlessly {2:12} were a people who submitted to civic authority,{2:13,} and were a people known for serving through doing deeds of goodness, kindness! What an indictment, not against the believers but against their accusers!

Many of us will never experience the intense suffering these early followers of Christ did, but we too have those who do not know Him in our circle of society who “observe,” be it in your own home, school, work, at little league games, “observing” what you say, how you react, your attitudes, do you gossip, are you hypocritical, they don’t view to see the good, because without love, they cannot think the best of people consistently, they look to find faults, they look to put you down, they look to expose hypocrisy, they look to slander…

And so if we look at Peter’s words, we see we too, as “aliens, strangers”-{V11} in this world, which is not our home, but though we live in this world we are not of it and we have responsibility as His Ambassadors to live in such a way that those who “observe” will see we are a people who are engaged in “good deeds!” A people whose lives have been and are being transformed BY OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD JESUS are changing, different, whose “behavior “is “excellent,” speaking of virtue, goodness, that which is beautiful or attractive. What they found having observed, which is not a causal glance but an observant, “long term reflective observation,” was the attractiveness of the goodness of their deeds they were living out! May this be true of us also!

But what if it is not?

What if we have settled into the attitudes, pursuits of this world and abandoned our responsibility as servants of Christ? We repent, we confess our sin and turn around, remembering we are the “Beloved of God”-{v 11} and all that involves for Him to make it so. Begin afresh. Don’t go AWOL… you can begin afresh , their is Blood to cleanse and one choice at a time invest your life in this society you are in For the LORD’S SAKE

WHAT CAN WE LEARN?

“Keep your Behavior Excellent”- That is your responsibility.”Behavior” speaks of your lifestyle. It begins with the way we think “Excellently”-{Read Phil 4:8..to see what this involves}. “Excellent” is that which is the highest good, beautiful, attractive…Daniel was of an “excellent” spirit.-{Daniel 5:12}. Prov 17:7 speaks of “excellent speech…” What can you learn in Witnessing in a Wicked World with your life from 1 Peter 2:11-12?.

Keep living your life one choice at a time in a beautiful attractive way to those who observe your life…

HOW? One way

  • With your continual choosing deeds of kindness, goodness

WHAT’S YOUR MOTIVATION? 

  • GOD’S LOVE- You are “Beloved of God.” -{v11} To personalize it. “I Am Loved by God.”
  • GOD’S GLORY – So that God will be Glorified! -{v12}. Personalize it, my motivation, My goal in living is that God Be Glorified!

“Keep your behavior excellent among the unbelievers, SO THAT {Here is the explanation, reason for,} in the thing they slander you as evildoers, they may BECAUSE of your GOOD DEEDS, as they OBSERVE them, Glorify God in the day of visitation.”- {1 Peter 2:12}-🙂