1Pet 2:19 For this is grace, if anyone, because of a consciousness of God, bears sorrows by suffering unjustly. 20 For what glory is it if, while sinning and being buffeted, you endure? But if, while doing good and suffering, you endure, this is grace with God.
[Part 2 of 2] These verses speak about our behavior in our daily life as Christians. The Christian life is a matter of behavior. Suppose we did not have the divine life within us. This would certainly make family life very difficult….The point here is that if we are those without the divine life, we shall face problems in our married life, no matter how much we may love one another. We shall have at least five major problems: temper, disposition, habit, background, and our way of understanding things.
No matter how much alike a husband and a wife may be, there will be differences between them. The husband will have his way of viewing things, and the wife will have hers. Likewise, the wife will have her habits and disposition, and the husband will have his. But suppose a husband and wife both have the divine life and live according to this life. In spite of the differences in temper, disposition, habit, background, and understanding, grace inwardly motivates both the husband and the wife. Furthermore, this grace is expressed in their living. This is what Peter means when he says, “This is grace.”
Anyone observing a believer living this way in a situation of suffering and persecution would have to recognize that this is grace. It is also something worthy of our thanksgiving to God. It is not a credit to us if we endure buffeting because we have sinned. But if we do good and yet suffer and endure, this is grace with God. Such a situation indicates that our living expresses the working of God’s grace within us and through us. Therefore, concerning this manner of life, Peter says, “This is grace with God.”
Prayer Confession Loving Father thank you for this word. Thank you for the sufferings that come my way so that the working of God’s grace within and through me manifests. I live a life that is motivated inwardly by the grace of God that this very grace be expressed in my living daily. Lord, I ask for the strength and power to endure the sufferings that I may keep a positive mind so that your grace be expressed to the world in Jesus’ name, Amen