Moments in the life of a Pastor

1 Peter 3:8-12

8 Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude. 9 Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing. 10 For the Scriptures say,

“If you want to enjoy life
    and see many happy days,
keep your tongue from speaking evil
    and your lips from telling lies.
11 Turn away from evil and do good.
    Search for peace, and work to maintain it.
12 The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right,
    and his ears are open to their prayers.
But the Lord turns his face
    against those who do evil.

Submit to seeking and speaking peace requires us to not only submit our sensibilities but also to:

2. Submit our speech

Your speech can serve to heal others or hurt them. The book of James teaches some tough lessons on the tongue. It tells us that we can use the tongue for evil or for edification. You can build up or belittle, your speech can sooth or sour. The tongue can alleviate or aggravate a problem. Are you going to speak peace or pain? You are either going to fill and follow God’ prescription for peace or perpetuate the pain. Peter calls us to pay attention to what we say, he calls us to pursue pure speech and not a potty mouth, yet many of us instead of dealing with the dirt want to dismiss it. Why is our speech so important, because the source of our speech is the heart, what you say springs from the heart. Not only does Peter talk about the putdowns and the potty mouth but he also talks to us about telling the truth. You are either going to tell the truth or live a lie. Why is dishonesty so destructive because it destroys the foundation of relationships trust. Words can built bridges or words can build walls. Are you going to train the tongue or turn it loose? How are you going to handle the hurts, you can respond with retribution and retaliate or you can choose reconciliation. You can have an attitude of attacking or anointing? So often in our relationships we make it about winning instead of obedience to the word, and when we do we end up focusing on our wounds and we use our words for war. If you want to be a blessing then you need to take time to train your tongue. Following God’s plan is a step of faith, if I submit to serving what if people take advantage of me? Scripture says God will sees and reward, why are we so fearful of walking by faith when we know God will be faithful? Now what will happens if we submit to self, and chose to get even, we will ruin our relationships. We say we not going to submit to God’s way because we are afraid it won’t work out and then chose a path that’s guaranteed to fail, who is the fool?  Here is the question that we need to ask what kind of legacy do we want to leave, one of love or lust, giving or grabbing, building up or belittling, are you going to bless others or bruise them?

1 Peter 3:8-12

8 Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude. 9 Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing. 10 For the Scriptures say,

“If you want to enjoy life
    and see many happy days,
keep your tongue from speaking evil
    and your lips from telling lies.
11 Turn away from evil and do good.
    Search for peace, and work to maintain it.
12 The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right,
    and his ears are open to their prayers.
But the Lord turns his face
    against those who do evil.

3.         Submit to seeking and speaking peace – Vs 9-12

God’s plan for prosperity involves pursuing peace with people both in our walk as well as our talk. Which requires us to:

1.         Submit our Sensibilities

But most of us are more ruled by our feelings than we are the Father. We make the focus how we feel instead of what the Father wants. We are called to not only pursue peace but to work at maintain it. Maintaining peace is not easy, it doesn’t just happen it requires that we expend energy, it’s like a fish maintaining its place in a fast flowing steam, without expending energy and swimming it will be swept away. Following the father requires that we go against the flow if we don’t we will be carried away by the current of conflict and into the chaos.  We have to work at His Will and be careful not to make it about our wounds.  So how do you handle it when people are rude and hurtful, first we need to learn to rein in our response and evaluate our emotions. We need to ask ourselves whether we are going to respond like our heavenly Father or out of our hurtful flesh. God is not calling you to sit idle when people insult you he is calling you to action just not to anger. Instead of doing battle we are called to bless. When we are hurt we don’t have to hit back, instead of being a bruiser be a blessing. But instead of doing good many of us make the goal getting even. Instead of choosing peace we pursue a payback. Let me ask you this when it comes to the hurts of your life have you surrender your scars or are you still pick at the scabs? Many of us are more controlled by our wounds than we are the Word.  What about you are you going to be a brat or a blessing? Let me ask you this: Are you going to bless your children or break them? How you deal with the heart hurts and the disappointments of life will determine whether you pursue peace or pain. How you respond to the disagreements will either disarm or drive a wedge. Are you going to emotionally explode and exasperate the situation or surrender your feelings and free yourself to follow the Father? Are you going to line people up in the cross hairs of your gun or the cross of God’s grace? When you see people through the lens of self you often want to shoot them, but when you see them through the cross you will see them as special and significant.