For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. 1 Peter 3:10-12

The Apostle Peter here is quoting Psalm 34, and one thing we should notice here is there is alot of practical information that we can apply today to our daily lives. Peter is giving us wisdom from the Holy Spirit. While we as Christians may suffer in this fallen world, we can still make the best of our temporary situations by applying these Godly principles

1. Keep your mouth shut– Ouch, right? Sounds like a simple suggestion, but is it really that simple? Alot of our turmoil and conflicts are caused by ourselves, we need to know when to speak and when to “hold our peace”. As Peter says here “refrain his tongue from evil” Now I also believe this means to refrain from saying inappropriate things also, that wouldn’t be honoring God. Let’s be honest Christians who go around cursing and saying inappropriate things, look foolish and unconverted. As the Apostle James said “Can fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? (James 3:11) To bless God and curse people with the same mouth is a contradiction, ask the Holy Spirit for help with this!
2. Do Good- The Apostle Peter says “Turn away from evil and do good” again sounds like another simple concept, but are we doing this? Do we turn away from all that is evil whenever possible? Do we avoid getting involved in confrontations or “hanging out at the bar”, if we hang around evil, evil things bound to happen. The law of mathematics, if you avoid evil places, typically you avoid evil. Now does this mean we become a monk and avoid society, sounds tempting some days, but I don’t think that’s the will God has for our life. Use common sense by the Holy Spirit, if you don’t think you should be in this place or hanging around these people, then stay away
3. Seek Peace and pursue it– If you notice in todays world, most people are always looking for a fight or argument, this never ends well for anyone. Do the opposite, seek peace with all people. Again another application that sounds easy, but really isn’t . However this should be our goal, turn the other cheek (Matthew 5) By winning an argument, often you lose much more, your peace. Now there are times when we need to stand up for Jesus, stand up for our families or Church, however in most cases were letting the battle up to The Lord. If you pursue peace, you would be surprised how non confrontational your life really becomes. As the old saying goes “it take two to tango” often when your not receptive to someones aggression, it defuses the situation. It’s typically only when you retaliate that things get heated up. Again we need to really rely on the Holy Spirit for this one.
4. The Lord is against them that do evil- Understand that we are in a spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6) Often when people are attacking you, they are actually attacking God, they are at war with God. The Lord is against all who do evil, because evil is an act of war against God. We don’t have to win the battle, the battle was already won by Christ on the cross, understand this. So we people are coming after you, take a step back and give them over to The Lord (Romans 1:24) Understand God is for you, and anyone against you is battling God, this never ends well. The victory is already ours in Jesus, keep your peace knowing this truth!