Peter continues to call believers to live the “Jesus life” in hard days—to strength, to resolve, to unwavering firmness like a soldier entering battle. Accordingly, he outlines five motivations for “swimming upstream.” He calls us to be satisfied with our distinctiveness in a world that demands conformity.

Peter now outlines an ideal picture of life inside church as well as strategies for believers who must live in the hostile world outside the church. This timely and practical advice is given for “all of you.” The “Jesus life” lived well is a life of victory in all circumstances.

Marriage is one of the wonderful mysteries of the universe. God’s intention is to communicate His glory through this most intimate relationship. The secret for success in marriage is simply to make the other person more important than yourself. Supernatural joy is the result!

Peter writes with a sense of urgency here. It is vital that believers take very seriously their identity in Christ and intentionally demonstrate spiritual growth in the everyday roles of life. Why? Because we are being evaluated daily. We must live distinctively as “Jesus Life” people!

With three complementary illustrations, Peter now calls on each believer to take personal and continuing responsibility for spiritual growth. It is not enough to be converted and to only begin the Christian journey. Turning from sin to righteousness is a daily practice; and this new life has communal obligations that go with it.

The greatest tragedy, until the cross, played out in Genesis chapter 3. Everything God had made for us, and to be with us, was lost. But God, in the midst of the tragic loss and inevitable death, promised that He would make things right. He started making things right in that very same moment.

When Adam fell into sin, he sold every one of his descendants into slavery. Thankfully, Jesus Christ, the “second Adam”, never fell into sin. Instead, He fully endured temptation to the full extent, and prevailed as perfect. It is because He remained sinless that He is able to pay the price that we could never pay.

We often do not truly understand sin. Because we view sin as the grand total of negative actions we have committed in our life, we often think we do not need to be forgiven of much. The truth is we often live out our lack of trust in God’s proven character. Every time we fall for the lie that God is not who He says He is, we fall into sin.