Saturday Night Devotions

1 Peter 2:17

     Honor all people.  Love the brotherhood.  Fear God.  Honor the king.

     Following up on his point in verse 16 Peter now lists for us 4 great duties of our liberty.  First, we are to honor all people.  Man is prone to honoring those he deems greater than himself and scorning lesser men (those he deems as lesser).  Peter calls us to honor all men, regardless of station, ability, intelligence, or power.  James made this point as well in James chapter 2.  Man is created in the image of God – all men and all women are created in God’s image (Genesis 1:26).  Any time we dishonor people, we dishonor God.  God has crowned men with glory and honor (Psalm 8:5) and we become offensive to God when we try to remove our fellow man’s crown of glory and refuse to render him the honor that God has given him.  We are in a truly indefensible position if we find that God honors men more than we do.  

     Secondly, we are called to “Love the brotherhood.”  “Oh how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity (Psalm 133:1)!”  It is a delightful, inspiring sight to see Christians love on each other as we see commanded of us here.  It is as if our Lord points at the church and says, “love all those people who worship me there.”  This love springs from the overflow of our love for God Himself.  It is irrespective of the qualities of the people we love.  We simply love our brothers and sisters in Christ because we love Christ.  If we want to love people more, especially if we want to obey this verse and love the “brotherhood” of fellow believers in the church, we need not clench our fists, squint our eyes, and determine to doggedly love people even if it kills us.  All we have to do is sit at the Master’s feet in the mornings, dwell in His love and His abiding Presence, and love for His people will consume us.  A woman who puts on perfume in the morning does not need to consciously strain to smell good the rest of the day.  In the same way, if we put on Christ in the morning, bask in His glory and forgiveness upon rising each day, we will not need to strain at trying hard to love His people.  His love in us will pervade our relationships as effortlessly as perfume permeates the air around the wearer. 

     Thirdly, we are called upon to “Fear God.”  Proverbs 14:27 says, “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to turn one away from the snares of death.”  A proper fear of God is very healthy.  The world is full of snares which tempt us to turn our back on God – but rebelling against God often leads to emptiness on earth and always leads to an eternity in hell.  The fear of God protects us from both of these devastating outcomes.  Without a proper fear of God, we fail to fear His ultimate judgment and so sentence ourselves to death and hell and eternal separation from Him.  But fearing God does not simply protect us from Hell.  The fear of God also fills us with a “fountain of life.”  Our fear of displeasing Him leads us to shun sin, and an avoidance of sin affords us an avoidance of the empty feeling that often shadows sin and replaces it with days that are purposeful, fulfilling, and overflowing with joy.  God’s heart is to protect men from death and hell, and to fill men with a fulfilling life while he is on earth – and the key to attaining these two great gifts is in holding dear a proper fear of God’s power and judgments.  “Behold the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine (Psalm 33:18-19).”

     Finally, this verse from Peter calls on us to “Honor the king.”  It is common for cultures which revere kings to also have the tendency to snub and look down on people that are “beneath them.”  This trait is spoken against in the first line of this verse which calls on us to honor all men.  But the opposite is also true.  Those who see the value and equality in the common man are prone to be disrespectful toward those in authority and fail to give them their due honor.  Our American culture is prone to cultivate this trait in us.  Without abandoning our respect for the common man, we must maintain this proper regard for people in authority over us whether they be kings or governors or leaders of a lesser domain.  “Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor (Romans 13:7).”