Peter says, “Put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.” Really think about this. What if you actually got rid of your malice and ALL your deceit and hypocrisy and envy and ALL slander? How different would you be? Honestly, it is surreal to imagine even a 34% reduction in malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. Or even a 21% reduction. …Or even a 12% reduction!

Then Peter tells us to, “Be like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.” IF THIS ISN’T A PRIMARY PARADIGM OF WHAT TRUE GROWTH AND MATURITY LOOKS LIKE FOR YOU – then you’re a Pharisee! *True growth and maturity invariably involves embracing the paradox that tasting & digesting MEATY teaching & guzzling pure MILK are one-in-thed-same! To be practical and specific – – – Jesus’ parables are true MEAT, and pure MILK!

And Peter polishes-off his MILK command by saying, “If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.” ***This is THE KEY to true maturity and growth! JP would call it “Christian Hedonism”. You gotta TASTE and see/SAVOR that God is GOOD! Simply put, if you don’t have jubilation in your interactions with Jesus, then you ain’t growing and maturing. This was why Jesus was so violent and provocative with the Pharisees! Jesus insists on JOY. Essentially, Jesus would say to the Pharisees that same thing that Paul said to the uptight people in Corinth, “I don’t want to suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all.”

Then Peter says, “Jesus is a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, and you yourselves are like living stones, and you are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood. Scripture says, ‘Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.’ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.'” And then Peter says, “People stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. …But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

AND SPEAKING OF MERCY… here is a quote from Flannery ‘O Connor about what mercy actually looks like and feels like:

Mr. Head stood very still and felt the action of mercy touch him again, but this time he knew that there were no words in the world that could name it. He understood that it grew out of agony, which is not denied to any man and which is given in strange ways to children. He understood it was all a man could carry into death to give his Maker, and he suddenly burned with shame that he had so little of it to take with him. He stood appalled, judging himself with the thoroughness of God, while the action of mercy covered his pride like a flame and consumed it. He had never thought himself a great sinner before, but he saw now that his true depravity had been hidden from him lest it cause him despair. He realized that he was forgiven for sins from the beginning of time, when he had conceived in his own heart the sin of Adam, until the present, when he had denied poor Nelson. He saw that no sin was too monstrous for him to claim as his own, and since God loved in proportion as He forgave, he felt ready at that instant to enter Paradise.

– Flannery O’ Connor

Then Peter says, “I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. ¹

Then Peter says, “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.” And I know you’re confused by this. I know you’re wondering, “What does this actually look like in action?” …I’ll tell you – – – > It looks like Joseph, son of Jacob (a.k.a. Zaphenath-paneah), and/or Daniel (a.k.a. Belteshazzar), and/or Hadassah (a.k.a. Esther), and/or Andy Dufresne (a.k.a. Peter Stevens/Randall Stephens), and/or Edmond Dantés (a.k.a. Abbé Busoni, a.k.a. Lord Wilmore, a.k.a. Sinbad the Sailor).

Then Peter says, “Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.” Wow! I’ll I can say is that there are other passages of Scripture that offer more texture, detail, context, structure, specific vibes, and mojo to this statement. For now, I will tell you to read Paul’s letter to Philemon, and also the legislation in Deuteronomy 23:15-16.

Then Peter says,^“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” O wow! Called to this!? What kind of example have we been left with? What if Jesus left us with the example of binge watching HBO Max? Or the example of home renovations? Or the example of envying the mansions in South Charlotte? Or trying to get the cool kids to like us? Or trying to win debates? Hmmmmm… what kind of example have we been given?

Then Peter says, “Jesus committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth. When Jesus was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”