Perspective

If social media posts are reflective of where our culture is at the moment, few texts in all of Scripture would be better than the words of 1 Peter 3:13-22 to encourage us. Social media – and many mainstream media talking heads – suggest that 2020 was about the worst year in the history of mankind. I’ve seen a few posts suggesting that “2020” will become the new “four-letter word.” Some think that depending on how you voted this past November, 2021 will either be the ultimate cure-all year or a downhill slide into the abyss of what started in 2020.

Like the 1918 flu pandemic, the current pandemic is wreaking havoc in our world – but this isn’t the first time we have faced such trials. While the social upheaval seeking a more just society has been painful in many ways – and it’s sad that it needs to still happen – for those of us old enough to remember the 1960s, we know this isn’t the first such period in our culture’s history. 

The hyperbole with which so many describe our current culture may be guilty of overlooking some rather important historical moments. Was 2020 really more difficult than 1861-65 – the years of the Civil War? Or 1941-45 – the years of World War II? And that is just looking at two moments in our own history. What about the persecution early Christians faced just for following Jesus? Or Christians in many parts of the Middle East today, whose lives are put at risk simply by being Christian?

The text I mentioned from 1 Peter 3 suggests that “even if you should suffer,” that doesn’t mean you aren’t “blessed.” And beyond that, Peter urges his readers – who most likely had far more difficult lives than you or I do – “do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled.” For Peter, the presence of troubled times is a reason “to sanctify Christ in our hearts.”

For much of my life, I heard all sorts of apologetics people quote verse 15 in a way that defended their tendencies to believe that presenting a dozen or so reasons some part of the Bible was true was what Peter encouraged his readers to do. Whether or not that approach is healthy is not for me to say, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t what Peter was talking about.

If, in the midst of “intimidation and trouble,” I am living a “sanctifying Christ in my heart” kind of life, it likely will cause people to ask questions.

If, in the midst of “intimidation and trouble,” I am living a “sanctifying Christ in my heart” kind of life, it likely will cause people to ask questions. Apparently I am supposed to be cowed by the intimidation and trouble that those who don’t know Christ might bring my way. When I don’t respond that way – when “I sanctify Christ in my life” – that will generate confusion, perhaps even questions.

The ingredient in life that will be so counterintuitive to being cowed by evil is one word: hope. Hope is such a vital word in our experience of faith. The challenge with the word is that in our daily languages, we use it so casually. Go and buy a lottery ticket, and the clerk might say, “Hope you win.” Of course, your chances of winning are pretty slim. Back in December, after the final exam in a class I taught at Point University, I had an email from a student who did very little work all semester, failed the course project and final exam, and clearly was going to fail the course. His email contained this phrase: “I hope I am going to pass your class.”

If that’s what Peter means by hope, then we are, quite frankly, hopeless – and all the doom and gloom of social media posts would be appropriate. But that isn’t hope, as Scripture describes it. Hope is “confident assurance” that God keeps His promises. That assurance is so certain that the Holy Spirit was given to us as “guarantee.” (Ephesians 1:13,14) Solomon’s prayer of dedication for the Temple (1 Kings 8:22ff) is deeply rooted in the idea that God keeps His Word!

As Paul nears the end of his life, he is still talking about “faith, hope, and love.” In 2 Timothy 1:12, he defines hope like this: “for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.” 

If Paul could say that in view of the circumstances of his own life at the time, then I’m pretty certain that I ought to be saying the same!

So, at the beginning of a New Year – 2021 – that will have all sorts of challenges and moments of uncertainty, maybe Peter’s advice to early believers should be our resolution. Let’s live in a way that causes non-believers to ask us, “How do you do that?” Then, with gentleness and reverence, we can tell them about our hope in Christ.

It is possible, by the way, that the challenges of 2020 have served to soften the hearts of those who aren’t followers of Jesus. Perhaps the kindness of those of us who are Jesus-followers could show them the way to life!