Daily Meditation
Suffer
for Righteousness' Sake
Finally,
be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be
pitiful, be courteous: Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but
contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should
inherit a blessing. For he that will love life, and see good days, let him
refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: Let him
eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of the
Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the
face of the Lord is against them that do evil. And who is he that will harm
you, if ye be followers of that which is good? But and if ye suffer for
righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither
be troubled; but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to
give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you
with meekness and fear:
Having
a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they
may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is
better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil
doing.
For
Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might
bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime
were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of
Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were
saved by water.
The
like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away
of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ: Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right
hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. 1
Peter 3:8-22
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