The verse that stood out to me today was the only one that did not have a note directly associated with it in my Bible. So, I’m on my own in sharing my thoughts about verse 8, Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. There are a lot of things we can do to serve others and to serve God. However, if we do not do them with love then it doesn’t mean very much. Love matters in all things. Love changes the perspective for us in everything we do. It’s like the book my Bob Goff, “Love Does”, where he talks about love being the motivator behind everything. This one thing has the potential to change the way and frequency of following God’s command to serving others.
2012 Day 294 – 1 Peter 4
20 Saturday Oct 2012
Posted in Daily Reading
Daily Devotion 
A couple of thoughts today.
10 Each of you has been blessed with one of God’s many wonderful gifts to be used in the service of others. So use your gift well.
Notice he doesn’t tell us which gifts are better. He just says we’ve all been given gifts. I guess this hit me because I was speaking with someone the other day who was leaning towards judging folks who make a lot of money and build nice houses. The comment was made that that money could be used so much better in feeding poor children. We must be very careful that we don’t make those judgement calls. Some people have the gift of running successful businesses and making a lot of money. And many of those people give massive amounts of money away and open their homes for fundraisers where, again, massive amounts of money can be raised. We don’t know the hearts of people. Folks who take a vow of poverty for “show” can be just as guilty of having wrong motives as those who are wealthy and miserly. God has given all of us unique gifts to use for the advancement of his kingdom. We must be careful not to compare the gifts and subsequently judge which is better.
14 Count it a blessing when you suffer for being a Christian. This shows that God’s glorious Spirit is with you. 15 But you deserve to suffer if you are a murderer, a thief, a crook, or a busybody. 16 Don’t be ashamed to suffer for being a Christian.
This is another soapbox issue for me. Notice he says count it a blessing for being a Christian, not for being a jack@*$$. I have known too many believers who claim persecution for their beliefs when in actuality they are just being your regular, every day jerk. If you act like a jerk, murder, steal etc…(as Peter points out), you deserve persecution and suffering. But if you are actually living out the life of Christ by being loving, humble and serving, and you are still being persecuted? Well, that’s when it’s a blessing.
Soapbox put aside. I shall now do some laundry with what’s left inside of it 🙂
Love the soapbox!!!