1 Peter 4:7-11
With Whatever Gift

The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers. Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

New Revised Standard Version

What a lot of wisdom in a small amount of space!

From the start of verse 7, we face Peter's expectation that the Second Coming could be in his lifetime, and even the disappointment and confusion of the believers when others of the apostles died before seeing the return of Jesus. However, what Peter was writing is about how we live, not about forecasts for the End of Time. We hurt our spiritual development when we live as if we were going to live a full lifetime, as if we are certain that Jesus won't call us home at whatever time pleases Him. That is why Peter urges discipline and focus, that through our prayers we would be living already in the presence of God, whether here on earth or in heaven.

Just as we live in the presence of God, we need to live with others with the knowledge that they, too, are God's. We maintain a constant love for others, because that's how God sees people. Peter reminds us that just as God's love is the source of mercy and forgiveness, so our love for others will give us the grace to forgive and forget even the "multitude of sins" of those we are called to love. In just that same way, show hospitality, which literally in the Greek is a combination of two words that tell us to show brotherly love to strangers. Not only is that a practical application of this love, that was also a practical necessity for traveling preachers and missionaries in an era when hotels were a rarity.

What caught my eye most in this passage (at least this time) is Peter's encouragement to be ourselves. To be a good steward (literally "house manager") of God's abundant grace, we need to be strong in our prayer life, we need to demonstrate love to others, and we need to use the gifts God has given us to serve others. Peter implies that we need to be content and confident with our gifts, and not concern ourselves with the gifts of others. It is obvious that when a preacher is preaching, they are to share the words of God, and not to circumvent God's message with one of their own. But Peter uses that as an example to say that in any other way that God has gifted us, we are to use that gift as God's own presence, and with God's full measure of strength!

Has God blessed you with an outgoing personality to make strangers feel welcome? Most people choose to go to a church as much for how welcome they are made to feel when visiting as they do for the skill of the preacher. Has God blessed you with a knack for organizing? No where in the business world are there organizations as large and complex as churches that are run with so limited and lean a staff, so the presence of God's power through administration is essential to keeping a church working. Has God given you skills for repairing items? Fix up the facilities at your church in full confidence that God's power flowing through your screwdriver will change someone's life because that chair you fixed was present and functional when God needed it to be.

In all things, Peter emphasizes, God will be glorified!