English
๐ฆ๐๐ง ๐๐ฃ๐๐ฅ๐ง ๐ง๐ข ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ฆ ๐๐ก ๐ข๐จ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ ๐จ๐ก๐๐ง๐๐๐ฆ
๐ฅ๐๐๐
๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ด๐บ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐บ, ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ญ๐บ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ, ๐ข ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ญ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ณ๐บ, ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฐ๐ณ โ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ๐ด, ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ญ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ช๐ต; ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ญ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ; ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต. ๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ญ.โ . . . ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ข๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ; ๐บ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต . . .ย ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐๐ง๐๐ฅโฌ โญ๐ฏ:๐ดโ๐ญ๐ฎ, ๐ญ๐ฑย
Read also ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ญ๐ฎ:๐ฏ๐ฌโ๐ฏ๐ญ; ๐๐จ๐๐ ๐ฒ:๐ฎ๐ณโ๐ฎ๐ด; ๐๐ข๐๐ก ๐ญ๐ฏ:๐ฏ๐ฐโ๐ฏ๐ฑ; ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐ฏ:๐ญ๐ฏโ๐ฎ๐ฎ; ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐ฐ:๐ฐโ๐ญ๐ญ.ย
๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐๐ง
In his letter, the apostle Peter addresses the issue of how churches in Asia Minor should respond to the rising persecution against Christian believers. The early church was most likely reluctant to reach those who were persecuting them and tell unbelievers about Godโs goodness and holiness. But theyโand usโare not to back down in loving people and telling them about the good news of the gospel.ย
Just as โtart words make no friend; a spoonful of honey will catch more flies than a gallon of vinegar,โ Christians can reach others with love more than strife, joy more than debates, and grace more than religion. With kindness, graciousness, patience, and respect, there is a greater possibility that people will be willing to listen to the gospel of Christ. The love of God is to be reflected in how we approach and treat others. More so, our way of life reflects our relationship with Jesus.ย
In the second century AD, Tertullian, an early church father, said that the Roman government was suspicious of the Christian churches and how they were growing. They even sent spies into the church to see what was happening. One spy reported back: โThese Christians are very strange. They meet together in an empty room to worship. They do not have an image. They speak of one by the name of Jesus, who is absent, but whom they seem to be expecting at any time. And my, how they love Him and how they love one another.โย
In our communities, followers of Jesus are set apart to reflect God, declare the gospel, and demonstrate His love. Jesus commands us to love our neighbors and enemies. He said that people will know that we are His disciples if we love one another. Godโs love is for us and our relatives, neighbors, classmates, officemates, friends, and even our enemies and those far from God. Our job is to trust and obey Him, faithfully walking with Him and proclaiming Him.
๐ฅ๐๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ข๐ก๐
โข Reflect on your own life. Do you think your words and actions are more like a gallon of vinegar or a spoonful of honey? What do you think God is doing in your life in order for more people to turn to Him?ย
โข Identify your circles of influence. How do you think you can advance God's kingdom in your community?
๐๐๐๐ง๐ ๐ฆ๐ง๐๐ฃ
Ask God and some friends in church how you can reflect Godโs love and be a blessing to your community.
๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐๐ฅ
Jesus, no words can express my gratitude toward You for accepting and loving a sinner like me. Help me to reflect Your goodness and faithfulness to the people around me. Reveal to me what needs to change in me, and what needs to be kept in my approach, so that others may hear and respond to the good news of the gospel. Keep me in step with Your Spirit and give me the courage to respond righteously as You open doors in my community to preach the gospel and make disciples. May Your love abound in me so that it may overflow toward others. Amen.