1 Peter 4:1-5 - “Since Christ suffered physically, you too must strengthen yourselves with the same way of thinking that he had; because whoever suffers physically is no longer involved with sin. From now on, then, you must live the rest of your earthly lives controlled by God’s will and not by human desires. You have spent enough time in the past doing what the heathen likes to do. Your lives were spent in indecency, lust, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties and the disgusting worship of idols. And now the heathen are surprised when you do not join them in the same wild and reckless living, and so they insult you. But they will have to give an account of themselves to God, who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”
1 Peter 4:1-5 - “Since Christ suffered physically, you too must strengthen yourselves with the same way of thinking that he had; because whoever suffers physically is no longer involved with sin. From now on, then, you must live the rest of your earthly lives controlled by God’s will and not by human desires. You have spent enough time in the past doing what the heathen likes to do. Your lives were spent in indecency, lust, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties and the disgusting worship of idols. And now the heathen are surprised when you do not join them in the same wild and reckless living, and so they insult you. But they will have to give an account of themselves to God, who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”
Clearly, the Gospel message is open to all who will heed it. Peter mentions a former life of sin to his readers. He is probably speaking from personal experience. But just because we sinned in our past does not mean we must continue along the same path indefinitely. We are given a choice for each and every step we take. Our “friends” that indulged in sin with us won’t appreciate our u-turn. They can sometimes even become violent with their insulting behavior toward our new selves. It is to be expected since Satan is constantly doing his best to win a losing battle, but we must never give in or give up. Jesus tells us that the world will hate us because it first hated Him. Paul says he counted himself fortunate to be persecuted because that made him feel closer to Jesus. And if that perfect being Christ was tortured, what makes us feel like we are above that? Of course we’ll be persecuted! But as long as we walk with the Lord, He will see to it that our spirit remains intact and the mat in front of the heavenly door says “Welcome.”