Verse: 1 Peter 2:1
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.
Devotion
Talk about a straight forward verse! Honestly, this is one of the “read over” verses for me. I read over it – I don’t bother to really think about it. I’m sure that I don’t have any of those, so I just keep reading. Do you do that ever with a verse? Let’s slow down a bit, then, and think about each word.
Malice – This word means ill-will, evil, or desire to injure. We probably don’t struggle with this one too much, but it is worth searching our hearts—is there anyone we get frustrated about when we hear about good things happening to them? What’s the inverse? Wishing well on people who frustrate us. Do we do this? Jesus said “bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:28), this is the Kingdom of God. Jesus rarely asks us just NOT to do something evil, he calls us to move in the opposite direction and do something positive.
Deceit – I read this and I think, I don’t tell lies, I can keep moving. But let’s pause here a second too. What about stretching the truth? What about exaggerating? How about this (I do this one for sure), do we ever avoid the truth because it’s too difficult? The opposite of deceit is truth. We are called to live in truth, even when it gets difficult.
Hypocrisy – yikes. This is a hot button one. What I see in our culture right now is lots of people crying “hypocrisy” about the “side” they don’t agree with. It’s like a hunt to find hypocrites, and both sides are winning. But of course, how is it that both sides think this about the other? It reminds me of Jesus telling us to first take the PLANK out of our own eye, before we find the SPECK in someone else’s. There is so much I love about what Jesus says there. First, he calls out, you guessed it, hypocrisy. He encourages us to realize that often when we are seeing something in someone else’s life, we probably have similar stuff in our life. It’s always easier to find problems with other people, but it’s not always helpful. The second thing I love is that he tells us to remove the plank SO WE CAN HELP the other person. When I read people online yelling hypocrisy at others, I often wonder, are they trying to actually help? Out of love for the person? As usual, Jesus challenges both sides…about everything.
Envy – While all of this so far has been words based, they really all start in the heart don’t they? Envy creeps up on you. When I feel envy it often surprises me. And envy calls into question one basic thing for me: gratitude. A life of gratitude, even in the little, goes a long way to defeat a heart of envy.
Slander – This is another one that kind of sneaks up on me, how about you? I rarely decide to slander someone. It often comes out on accident. This is the stuff that comes out sideways, sometimes disguised as a joke, but really there is some bite to it. Do you ever do that? The opposite of this? Speaking well of people behind their backs. That’s right. Intentionally saying kind things about someone when there is no benefit to you in that relationship.
Whew. You doing ok? Still reading?
One verse right? Quite a lot to chew on though. Let’s pray:
Prayer
God, give us grace as we let the word of God penetrate our hearts, draw out the things that are not of him, and heal us of our broken ways. God, deliver us from our brokenness that ends up hurting other people, and teach us to love others the way you do.
Author: Christian Dunn
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