Faith

After the tongue-lashing from Peter, earlier in Chapter 4 (First Peter), he comes up with two words that had me scrambling for definitions – "glory" and "dominion."

In case you missed the sharp tongue, it was those same words that we get tired of hearing about how we believers should treat one another. Give it a break Peter! We know how we should treat others, and it does not always agree with what you (and Paul and Jesus said)!

Whoops! Did I say that? Isn't that how we sometimes live? After all, we are in the real world and know what those people are like.

At any rate, good old Peter said that we should keep "stoked up" (my words) in our love – our actions or how we treat one another. [more]Remember, this wasn't written to people who were not believers, so it has nothing to do with how we treat those who are not. This was strictly about how you and I should deal with one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. Now I know there will be lots of people who are going to tell me I am wrong, but you go back and start at the beginning of First Peter and tell me to whom the letter was written. It wasn't to the govenor or king. It wasn't to the soldiers of the Roman army. It wasn't to the drug dealers down on the corner!

Verses one and two of the first chapter clearly lay out that this letter was to believers who just happened to be scattered all over a large section of the "known world." So, this whole thing so far has been about how we should live.

Now he comes up with two words that don't easily translate. Glory and dominion are kind of tied together, even though very different. Glory is like being put in a spot light. We see pictures with the light radiating behind Christ's head, and that is one way of picturing it. My favorite image is of a darkened stage, with the music playing and one spot of light, into which a singer or dancer appeared on a lift (they rose up out of the floor). During the entire song, there are no other lights so that all eyes are on this one person. They get the applause and then the light goes out. They gloried or basked in the light and were honored for what they did. Had there been more lights, we, the onlookers would have been confused.

Glory singles out the one performing the act so that when we give glory we know to whom we give glory and honor.

Dominion was much easier to deal with – that's a kingdom. It sets boundaries about who is in charge of whatever. Doesn't matter what kind of reading you do, science fiction or historical documentary, the picture of a King and his Kingdom (or Queen and her ?? (good question)) is clear. That was all Peter was trying to get us to see. If Jesus is King of your life, He deserves that we/you let the whole world know to who's kingdom you belong. Wear your colors proudly. Even when people call you names and hurl evil upon you, give Him glory and dominion.

Let the whole world know!

Be different? Stop doing what I used to do?

I wonder how many people in the first century got more than a little upset with Peter. They were probably mad at Paul and John as well, but here'they are thing "my 'bud' telling me to stop hanging out with my old crowd." Actually telling me "Enough already!"

What we have to remember is that he was talking to people that were living outside their original world. They were probably just like us – high school and college friends to party with. Frequent trips to the clubs or resorts. Maybe even some "Spring Break" antics.

But there it is, "they should be surprised that you are not running with them." He even makes it clear, that by being different, they (your old friends) are going to make fun of you. They will hurl names and insults at you for not being like you used to be.

His encouragement is that we "have had enought time of all that stuff," and we need to move on and be different.

How different? Different enough so that it is impossible for everyone not to see it.

Sometimes, what we read in the Bible is very clear. Other times, it's as clear as mud. We tend to get hung up on those unclear passages and get trapped in the mud.

If you have never lived where there were dirt roads, you can't understand that logic. Dirt roads without gravel were traps. You had to learn to drive in the ruts left by vehicles that had preceded you. Hopefully one of those vehicle was a truck. That was because the bottom of the rut was more firm – you could keep driving. It was when you got out of the rut that you got stuck in the mud.[more]

Once stuck in the mud, it was a chore to "rock" your vehicle just so that your tires found something to grab on and allow you to get back in the rut. I remember one night when my grandmother was driving through my home town in Oklahome and she veered out of the rut. That red clay soil was at time like ice or snow. Two kids under 10 were no real help in getting "unstuck", and so she left the car sitting there in the middle of the street with the lights on, and we walked to the house in the rut.

That could happen to us here in First Peter at the end of Chapter three. I don't understand it, and won't get caught up in trying to figure out what he is saying. The answer will come when I meet Peter and can ask him face-to-face just what he meant. Until then, I will just keep reading. Don't want to get stuck in the mud.