Anyone who has been married can tell you that no marriage is easy. It takes hard work. Peter give practical counsel to husbands and wives about how Christians are to treat their spouses in order for a marriage to flourish.

There is no shortage of advice these days about love, sex, marriage, and family. The Bible also has advice that we ought to pay attention to — because as the creator and designer of marriage, God knows better than anyone how it works best. We look at what the Bible has to say about how husbands and wives can relate to one another in order for a marriage to flourish.

One of the most common descriptions of God in the Bible is as our Shepherd. It’s a comforting metaphor, but what does it really mean? How is Jesus our Good Shepherd?

We all want as much personal autonomy as possible, which means that we often struggle with human authority. Peter acknowledges this struggle by discussing at length how Christians should respond to the authorities in our lives. He challenges us to follow the example of Jesus by not rebelling but instead submitting to human authority, while trusting in the ultimate authority of God.

How should Christians respond to government authority? Surprisingly, Peter challenges us to submit to governing authorities and to honour the king. That’s the opposite of what most of us want to do, especially in the midst of our current political environment. So why does he ask us to submit, and what does that look like? What if the government is corrupt or the leadership is evil? What then?

We don’t usually invest much in something we know is only temporary. Naturally, we want to invest our time and energy into things that we know will last. The challenge for Christians, who Peter calls we are just “temporary residents and foreigners” is to invest in what will last for eternity.

There is very little in life that we can accomplish by ourselves. But when a group of people are all committed to the same purpose, they’re able to do the impossible. If the church will collectively embrace a lifestyle of prayer, generosity, and mission, then God will do the impossible.

In every society, there are a select few individuals that function as a Holy Man. But Peter tells us that as Christians, we are all now God’s ‘holy priesthood’, which means we all function as holy men/women. But what does that mean? How do we live as God’s holy priests? To answer that, we need to understand the qualifications, duties, and rewards of a priest.

We all have cornerstones in our lives — things which, if removed, would cause our lives to crumble. But Peter invites us to make Jesus the cornerstone of our lives. But what does it mean to make Jesus your cornerstone and how do you do it?

The quality of our faith is best revealed by how we love others. But loving others the way God has loved us is hard. It’s a supernatural standard that requires a supernatural power that is only possible through a constant and growing relationship with Jesus.