1 Peter 3:18 (NKJV)
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,
Bible Commentary
1 Peter 3:18 is a Bible verse that helps us put into proper perspective the injustices in our lives. We might suffer from the wrongs done by the evil in our world for a time, but God the Father has been waiting for centuries to restore and reveal the true honor and power of His Son. We can’t imagine the restraint of the Father while He endures.
God understands how difficult it is for us to stand by and watch as evil attempts to take over our nation and rule our people. We fear for our future and the safety and future of our children.
Friends, let us take heart. Remember the promises of God. We don’t have to strive and anxiously grasp for what we want. When we stand still and believe and look expectantly to the Father, He simply extends His hand and gives the gift to us.
Ephesians 2:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
Will God not do what is right? Do we want justice more than He does? Is there any person in history that deserves justice and honor more than His Son, Jesus Christ? The Name of Christ is above all names and yet it gets trashed every single day. He speaks to us through 2 Peter 3:9.
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
Let us set the desires of our hearts upon God, not upon the thing we desire. The air of desperation evaporates in the greatness of His peace and kindness when we align our hearts with the Father’s.
The peace of God is far greater than the thing we want. He is so much greater than anything or any person in this world. We can take comfort in Ephesians 2:14.
For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,
The Greatness of God
Read our daily verse again and just meditate for a moment on the wonder of what God the Father has done for us.
As the Lord suffered to bring us all to the Father, so we are suffering to help bring to the Lord the unsaved and those in captivity. Let us forgive those who do injustices and evil and bring them to the Father in prayer. This is our opportunity to unite with all our brothers and sisters in grace by faith. In this way, the honor of His great Name is revealed and restored, which is exactly what the Father longingly waits for.
Father God, we come to You and humble ourselves before You. Thank You for Your example of longsuffering, so that we can follow You and be like You, and our hearts can be transformed by Your mercy.
Lord, we lift up those who are taken captive by evil, those who are being used by the devil to try and capture our nation and keep us bound to the darkness. We ask, Lord that You deliver them out of the imprisonment of deception and the covetousness in their hearts, for we are all sinners, Lord. We choose to forgive those who have sinned against us, just as You have forgiven us who have sinned against You.
It is only by grace that we are saved, and we ask that You save our brothers and sisters who are blind and walk in the darkness. May Your light of mercy shine upon them and us together so that we can unite in grace through faith in our Lord, Jesus Christ.
We are one in You, Lord. We remember Your Word and trust that You are accomplishing this great promise.
Ephesians 1:7-10 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and [b]prudence, 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, [c]both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.
Lord, we know that You will have the last word as You make the last stand on the earth. Every knee will bow. For that, we thank You and bow before You in humble adoration. Amen and amen.
