Check out 1 Peter 3 here: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20peter%203&version=NIV and then mosey on back to this blog to check this out:
Okay, okay. First paragraph in I'm thinking "yikes, we 21st century peeps are in trouble." Especially, the women. (Sorry, women.) With talk of "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit"
I'm thinking this is hitting home with every woman who reads this and every man who is with a woman who is reading this. I mean, let's be honest, fake tans aren't real. Duh, right? But seriously...I just heard about eyelash extensions the other day. Eyelash extensions. Boggles the mind.
We are a society of "don't look at me yet, my face isn't on." We're not skeletons. Our skulls aren't exposed. In fact, it's covered by muscles and then a patch of skin called our faces. So, it's never off. But, the mask we wear everyday over our faces...? Well, that's in your makeup bag. And Peter doesn't like it.
And guys. We aren't off the hook either. And before I get into what Peter tells us, we all know that we are also guilty of "my face, my face!" from time to time. Or working out for hours in the gym for the sake of others and not ourselves. Or, dare I say it? Fake tanning. Spray-on tanning. Mystic tanning! VersaSpa anyone?
Anyhoo...Peter tells us guys that we need to honor our wives and lift them up as the weaker partner. And not "weaker" in any other sense of the word other than that Man came first, and then Woman out of Man. So, lower your "fists of fury," ladies.
We should focus on getting our significant others to see and understand and know the glory of God and the Spirit that dwells in us. Even if the man doesn't get it, his wife is commanded to help him until he does, but not by anything other than her purity and behavior in all things Christ. She should be a shining beacon of an example to her man that God is holy...and pretty much the only way to achieve Salvation.
Peter then calls all of us to be good to one another. Repay bad with good. If done wrong by someone, turn around and do right by them. We've all heard the phrase "turn the other cheek." Yea, that's from the Bible. When Jesus (in Matthew 5:39) told us that when someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also...that's what Peter is reiterating here.
Keep your eyes on the prize. Look for, see and do only good things. Then God will turn His face to you. Do bad, and He'll look away. I don't know about you, but I'd like God watching out over me while I play kickball in the street.
And if you are harmed by someone while you are out proclaiming God's word, take heart in knowing that Jesus, too, was harmed, and then killed, for the same thing. "For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil." For some reason, I'm thinking "brownie points." By doing good, when it is finally your time, you get to take all your trays - or however else you carry points of brownies - to Judgment with you!
If you barely cast glances at all the hardships that you faced while doing God's work, and kept soldiering on despite the insults hurled and the physical punishments endured, then you did exactly what Peter was asking us to do here.
He ends with a mention of Noah's time and the flood that washed away sin - and all but 8 people - from the world, which now represents baptism. Peter then makes a call for our own baptism. To wash away the "dirt" from our lives. Leaving us free and clean, and able to have a clear focus on God.
