1 Peter Devotional | Week 4: May 16 - 20

Read 1 Peter 1:13-21. 

• 1 Peter 1:13 begins with the word “therefore”. Look back over 1 Peter 1:1-12 to remember what Peter’s commands are rooted in. 
• 1 Peter 1:13 – What does Peter instruct believers to set their hope on? When will this be brought to them? What sort of mindset is required?
• 1 Peter 1:20-21 – What did God do in order that the believer’s faith and hope would be in God? 

Pray today in adoration and confession. Praise God that he has revealed himself, His grace and the work of Christ to you. Confess the futile things you tend to hope in.

Read 1 Peter 1:13-21 again. Sandwiched between reminders of where believers need to place their hope, Peter addresses how they ought to conduct themselves in exile and why. 

• 1 Peter 1:14-16 – How are believers to conduct themselves? What does Peter say about God that would motivate believers to conduct themselves in this way? 
• 1 Peter 1:17 –  How are believers to conduct themselves in exile? What does Peter say about God that would motivate believers to conduct themselves in this way? 
• 1 Peter 1:18-20 – What else does Peter want the reader to know that would motivate them to live in exile?

Pray today in adoration and confession.  Praise God that he is Holy and the Father who judges impartially, and confess the ways in which you have not conducted yourself in obedience.

Today,  read 1 Peter 1:13-21 again. We can understand the book of 1 Peter better when we understand the quotes and allusions Peter is drawing from the Old Testament. In this passage, Peter is alluding to the pivotal event in Israel’s history: the Passover. 

• Scan over Exodus 12 focusing on the instructions for Passover in 12:1-13, and 21-28. 
  • In Exodus 12:11, how was Israel to be prepared to flee from Egypt? 
  • In 1 Peter 1:13, how is the believer to be prepared for living in exile? 
• In Exodus what are the Israelites saved (ransomed) from and what is the price?
  • In 1 Peter 1:18,  what is the believer ransomed from and what is the price? 

Today pray in thanksgiving and supplication. Thank Jesus that He gave His life to ransom you, and ask the Spirit to help you actively engage your mind to set your hope in this truth.

Read 1 Peter 1:13-21 again. 

• In 1 Peter 1:16 Peter is quoting from Leviticus.
  • Read Leviticus 19:1-4. What is the reason that the people of Israel should be holy? 
  • Read Leviticus 20:22-24. What does it look like for Israel to be holy?
• In Isaiah 6, the prophet Isaiah encounters the Holy God. Read Isaiah 1:1-6. What does this encounter reveal to him about himself and the people?  How does God deal with Isaiah’s unholiness? 
• Read 1 John 1:5-10. What are the results of denying our sin? What are the results of acknowledging and confessing it? 

Pray today in confession and thanksgiving. Reflect on God’s holiness, confess your sinfulness, and thank Him that He has cleansed you from it!

Read through 1 Peter 1:13-21 one last time. 

• What do you tend to put your hope in other than God? 
• Do you do what it takes to actively engage your mind to place your hope in God and His grace, or do you get lulled into “drunken” complacency? 
• Do you tend to be conformed to the passions of the former way of life you were ransomed from?
• Under the old covenant, Israel had customs that set them apart from the nations around them. Under the New Covenant, we don’t need to abstain from unclean foods or customs of the Ancient Near East, but how does the call for holiness apply to you today? 

Pray today in supplication. Ask for the Spirit to help you to live a life that is different from the world because of the grace that is yours.