DAY 21
BIBLE READING: 1 Peter 3: 1-7
Peter turns now to the domestic or family problems which arise when one partner becomes a Christian while the other does not.
Why is his advice to wives six times as long as his word to husbands? Because the wife's problem in those heathen days, if she accepted Christ and he did not, was much more difficult than that of a husband. It is possibly much the same today.
If a husband became a Christian, his wife and family would probably follow his lead. But if she was the Christian and he was not, she faced tremendous problems. She had no rights of her own. She was only a piece of property. Her husband could dismiss or divorce her at any moment.
Even today there are few experiences more difficult than to be united in marriage with an unbeliever. No Christian should ever begin such a union.
Peter did not tell the Christian wife to leave her husband. He did not tell her to preach, argue or to nag. He did tell her to insist on her rights as a Christian.
Instead he told her to be loyal to her husband and to be a good wife to him. He said that a Christian wife witnesses for Christ by being more interested in her clothes. In these ways, her husband will see Christ in her.
One writer says that all of this can be summed up in this phrase, 'the silent preaching of a lovely life'.
The Christian husband has his responsibilities too. He should be thoughtful and loving, remembering we all owe everything to Christ.
Peter adds a strong word of warning. It is possible for our prayers to be hindered by failure to live for Christ in our homes. That is something we all need to remember every day.
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