Today we look at 1 Peter 3:9 and how it can apply to our lives

Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.
1 Peter 3:9

So much of our daily lives is based on action and reaction, need and reward. We go to work to earn a paycheck. We need that paycheck to have money to live on. We talk with a friend and ask for a favor. Our friend grants the favor, and we know that we now owe her one. It’s a kind of reciprocal cycle in which the natural give-and-take of life becomes the predominant law of survival.

The same principle seems to apply to when we suffer injury, insult, or indiscretion. Our coworker snubs us, so we snub them back. Our spouse picks an argument, so we defend ourselves and pick on them. Our friend is discovered to be the source of a cruel rumor about us, so we carefully plant a seed of juicy gossip about her. We retaliate and assume this is how we survive.

But this is not God’s way. Through his Word and the example of his Son, we’re reminded that grace is irrational, illogical, and unwarranted. Grace breaks the this-for-that, tit-for-tat cycle by which much of the world operates. Today, turn the other cheek and bless someone who insults you.

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Pray: “Lord, remind me of your grace as I seek to show mercy to others rather than retaliate or seek revenge. Help me to bless those who would harm me.”