Monday, March 23, 2026
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: 1 Peter 2-3
Key Verse
1 Peter 2:24 — “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”
Devotional Thought
Peter writes to believers scattered across Asia Minor, and his first instruction is disarmingly practical: put away malice, guile, hypocrisy, envy, and evil speaking. These are not the sins of pagans but of church members — the very things that fracture a congregation from within. Then he gives the remedy: crave the sincere milk of the word like a newborn baby, because you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. The image is tender and urgent. A hungry infant does not negotiate; it longs. Peter is asking whether we long for Scripture the way we long for comfort, vindication, or the approval of others. This week, as winter loosens its grip and the first green appears, the church is also moving toward Easter. Peter’s letter keeps pointing us to the cross and the empty tomb — the living Stone men rejected but God chose, the Shepherd who bore our sins in His own body on the tree, the risen Lord now at the right hand of God with angels and authorities subject to Him.
Because Christ suffered for us, Peter says, we are called to follow His steps. He did no sin, and when He was reviled, He reviled not again. He committed Himself to the One who judges righteously. That is the pattern for every Christian who is misunderstood at work, mocked by relatives, or treated unfairly by those who should know better. Peter then applies this to the most intimate relationships: wives winning unbelieving husbands without a word, by chaste conduct; husbands honoring their wives as fellow heirs of the grace of life, so that their prayers are not hindered. He tells servants to endure even unjust masters, and he tells all of us to be of one mind, compassionate, courteous, refusing to return evil for evil.
The center of it all is hope. Peter says to sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in you — with meekness and fear. Notice that the hope comes first, then the answer. We are not commanded to win arguments but to explain a hope that is already visible in how we live. And that hope rests on the resurrection: Christ put to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit, gone into heaven, seated at God’s right hand. Baptism saves us, Peter says, not by washing dirt from the body but as the answer of a good conscience toward God — and it saves us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Everything hangs on that empty tomb.
So the call today is simple and costly. Lay aside the old speech. Drink deeply from the word. Honor those closest to you. Suffer well if you must suffer. And keep your hope ready to hand, because someone near you will ask about it. Easter is coming. Peter wants us to live as people who already know how the story ends.
Reflection
- When you examine your speech this past week — at home, at work, online — which of Peter’s five things (malice, guile, hypocrisy, envy, evil speaking) has most often crept in, and what would it look like to lay it aside today?
- Peter says to be ready to give a reason for the hope in you “with meekness and fear.” If someone asked you this week why you have hope, what would you actually say — and does your manner match the meekness he describes?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, living Stone rejected by men but chosen and precious before God, we come to You as needy children craving the sincere milk of Your word. Forgive our malice, our guile, our envy, and our careless tongues. Teach us to follow Your steps — silent when reviled, trusting the Father who judges righteously. Make our homes and friendships places of honor and compassion, and let our conduct commend the gospel even when words fail. Sanctify the Lord God in our hearts, and give us readiness with meekness to tell others the reason for our hope, grounded in Your resurrection and Your reign at the right hand of God. Amen.