1 Peter 4:1–11

Changed Lives

4Since Christ suffered physically, you too must strengthen yourselves with the same way of thinking that he had; because whoever suffers physically is no longer involved with sin. ²From now on, then, you must live the rest of your earthly lives controlled by God’s will and not by human desires. ³You have spent enough time in the past doing what the heathen like to do. Your lives were spent in indecency, lust, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and the disgusting worship of idols. ⁴And now the heathen are surprised when you do not join them in the same wild and reckless living, and so they insult you. ⁵But they will have to give an account of themselves to God, who is ready to judge the living and the dead. ⁶That is why the Good News was preached also to the dead, to those who had been judged in their physical existence as everyone is judged; it was preached to them so that in their spiritual existence they may live as God lives.

Good Managers of God’s Gifts

⁷The end of all things is near. You must be self-controlled and alert, to be able to pray. ^8*Above everything, love one another earnestly, because love covers over many sins. ⁹Open your homes to each other without complaining. ¹⁰Each one, as a good manager of God’s different gifts, must use for the good of others the special gift he has received from God. ¹¹Whoever preaches must preach God’s messages; whoever serves must serve with the strength that God gives, so that in all things praise may be given to God through Jesus Christ, to whom belong glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.