Being invisible

Being invisible

Set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess. Do it with gentleness and respect. – 1 Peter 3:15

1 Peter 3:10-14

 10 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.

 13 Now, who will want to harm you if you are eager to do good?

 14 But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats.

Samin Nosrat, renowned chef, is best known for her best-selling cookbook, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat and her Netflix original documentary series based on her book. Nosrat’s book, is a focused, folksy, often humorous account of the tasty cooking techniques. It offers basic how-to’s of good cooking. The book reflects her many years as a cooking instructor and professional chef. First published in 2017, it was named one of the 10 best cookbooks of the 21st century in 2019. She maintains that, “good food around the world is more similar than it is different, and that we, as humans, are more similar than we are different” (The New Yorker).

Her writing and Netflix series exude a kind of warmth, friendship, and camaraderie that draws people to her. Why is that so?

Samin Nosrat is an American born child of Iranian immigrants. They fled Iran in 1976 because of religious persecution. Her father’s family is Baha’i. But what most people don’t know, is that she spent most of her life being “invisible.” She felt socially isolated and different. She was always an outsider and never really fit in. How did she react? She decided to become the nicest, smartest, most polite person around. She was determined to please others.

How are we to react when we are mistreated, neglected, ridiculed, left out, or worse?                                                                 

1 Peter 3:11 Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it.

REFLECT & PRAY

Instead of being victimized by people, becoming fearful and withdrawing behind imagined walls and barriers, we are to reverence Christ.

Father thank You that You have set us free from our natural and expected human responses to hurtful and painful experiences. We can choose to love life, do good, seek peace, turn away from evil, anger, and isolation. We no longer have to be invisible. We no longer have to be invisible. In place of isolation, You offer peaceful solitude.

INSIGHT

How can we live out this lofty goal which the apostle Peter sets before us? We are to desire to love life and see good days (1 Peter 3:10). Do you love life, or do you despise life and wish for death? This is not some kind of pie-in-the-sky, Pollyanna-like outlook of being excessively or blindly optimistic and overlooking the unpleasant and difficult things in life. Rather, Peter is urging each of the Father’s children to approach life in a positive way, exercising faith in every situation.

Set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess. Do it with gentleness and respect. – 1 Peter 3:15

The Greek word translated sanctify, set apart, or reverence is hagiazo. Hagiazo normally has the connotation of making holy or to sanctify something. “But here seems to have the sense, ‘treat as holy, regard reverently’ (it has a similar sense in Matthew 6:9, ‘hallowed be thy name’, or ‘may your name be reverenced’” (Grudem).

Simply stated, we are to give the Lord Jesus Christ first place in our lives. We are to sanctify Him, that is, set apart a special place for Him and acknowledge Him as holy. We are to honor and worship Him from our heart, the deepest part, the center of our being. We are to do it completely and unreservedly.

Each of the Father’s children are to make the Father and His son Lord Jesus Christ of prime importance in their life. When we give the Lord Jesus Christ a special, unique place in our lives, He is to become the most precious thing to us. We are no longer easily hurt or discouraged. We can literally put others before ourselves and become fountains of kindness, goodness, generosity, and light in a very dark place.

Taking the high road creates a beautiful, almost irresistible, sense of hope. Others become curious as to what makes us different. As a result, we are to be prepared, ready, to explain our hope with gentleness and deference.

If no one is asking, there is probably something missing from our lives that should set us aside from everyone else. What is missing? Hope!

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