‘For he that will love life, and see good days…’ (1 Peter 3.10).
‘He that will love life’, says Peter, drawing from David in Psalm 34.12. We learn that we are supposed to love life. This may surprise us, because it sounds ominously close to loving this world. But the two ideas are not the same. We do not love this world and its system, ruled by Satan, and full of sin. But we are supposed to love our time here and our life here, and this is altogether different.
We should love the privilege of having threescore years and ten, or whatever it may be, here in this present life, and we should make the most of every moment of it for the glory of God, to his praise, and in his service.
The apostle Paul, as he approached death and martyrdom, said, ‘For I am in a strait betwixt two.’ In my mind, I am drawn two ways: whether to be martyred and taken to be with the Lord, or to remain here and to continue to minister and to be of help to you.
It should be the same for us. Let us look for Christ and for the great and coming day of his return, but not at the expense of our sense of privilege and of commission that God has posted us here for the time being, so that we may make the most of it and be used of him.
‘For he that will love life, and see good days…’ Have we thought about this? There are many things that we can only do for the Lord while we are here on earth. We will not be able to do them in Heaven. If God calls us home and we have not done them, we may have a fleeting moment of great sadness even as we enter into everlasting bliss. Well, what are the things that we can only do here? In other words, why should we love this life?
Triumphs of grace in trial
For instance, in Heaven we will not be able to experience triumphs of grace in the midst of adversity and temptation, because there won’t be any adversity and temptation. This fallen earth is the only place and the only time that we may prove the Lord and triumph in adversity. So let’s love life and pray for this: that we shall know overcoming grace, in our lives and witness. These are tremendous victories. How can I ever repay the Lord for suffering and dying for me, for bearing away my eternal punishment and for securing eternal glory for me? I cannot repay him, but I can prove him in the storm of adversity. This will express my gratitude while here on earth.
Proving the power of prayer
Allied to this, our present life is the only one in which we may prove the power of prayer. Only here do I desperately need to pray for relief, for souls, for people around me, for light and understanding, and for strength from on high. In praise and thanksgiving we will constantly call upon the Lord in glory, for blessings will come to us all the time, an unrestricted and never diminishing flow of glorious provision.
The opportunity to exercise faith
Only here on earth do we have the need to exercise faith. In the eternal glory, faith will give way to sight. We will no longer be in a dark environment where we must trust things unseen as yet. We shall see, and we shall feel the presence of God. Only here can we make the most of our foreign posting to live in an alien world and to soldier for and serve our unseen Lord. Only here may we pass (by grace) the tests of faith allowed and designed to prove us. There will be a test of faith in some shape or form for all of us during this very week, but as we cross the threshold of eternity we shall leave them behind for ever, with all need, anguish and longing.
The time to make sacrifices
Only here can we make sacrifices for the Lord of glory. Have I made a sacrifice for him this week? Have I forgone some pleasure or some relaxation to serve him? Have I paid some price for my faith and been willing to do it? Have I died to the world? Only here can we make such sacrifices for him. When we are on our deathbed, approaching the end, we will not want a last spasm of regret thinking, ‘I never really sacrificed; I never took the opportunity to live life for the Lord, as I might have done.’ Only now do we have this temporary opportunity.
To ‘love not the world’
Only here do we have the scope to obey the word, ‘Love not the world’, because the world won’t exist in Heaven. This world system, suffused with sin and under the sway of the prince of the power of the air, will soon be under judicial destruction.
Pressing toward the mark
Only here in this life may we press toward the mark of our high calling, because in Heaven we will have reached the mark. We will have run the race and received the crown. We will have crossed the finishing line, and arrived in glory. All the striving is now. This is what we have in mind when we read the words, ‘For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil.’ Now we strive (verse 10) to refrain the tongue from evil, choking back unworthy and wrong words. Now we determine to speak no guile, no hidden evil, no gossip, no unkindness.
It is here and now that we ‘eschew evil, and do good’. We never relax the pursuit of holiness, or take our hands off the steering wheel of life. We do not imagine we can go through the day without resisting temptation.
Only in this life do we have to work to conceive and do good works. In Heaven it will be wholly natural for us. Only here do we struggle to suppress selfish desires and formulate acts of kindness and helpfulness. Only here is the command of God necessary – ‘Let him eschew [avoid] evil and do good; let him seek peace and ensue it.’ Only here is it necessary to pursue peace, because in Heaven happiness and harmony fills every ransomed heart.
Part of a sermon preached at the Metropolitan Tabernacle on 25th February 2024