“Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” — 1 Peter 3:8-9
There is no better known sports logo than the Nike Swoosh. It represents the wing of the Greek goddess, Nike, who according to Greek mythology sat at the side of Zeus, the ruler of the Olympic pantheon in Olympus. Nike represented a mystical presence, symbolizing victorious encounters as she supposedly presided with Zeus over history’s earliest battlefields.
In an interesting biblical parallel, Paul and Barnabas encountered the priests of Zeus in Lystra while on their first missionary journey. Paul healed a lame man who from birth had never walked. When the crowd saw the miracle they thought they were gods who had come down to earth. They called Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes. Even their priests brought bulls to sacrifice to these gods in the flesh but Paul and Barnabas straightened them out in a hurry (Acts 14:8-18)!
The graphic design of the Swoosh was created by Caroline Davidson in 1971, while she was an art student at Portland State University. She met Phil Knight, one of the future founders of the Nike Shoe Company, while he was teaching accounting classes there. She started doing some free-lance work for his new company after being asked by Knight to design a logo that could be placed on the side of an athletic shoe. She handed him the Swoosh. He handed her $35. In the spring of 1972, the first shoe with the Nike Swoosh was introduced . . . the rest is history.
But the best was yet to come for Nike. In 1988 they launched their most successful ad campaign ever called, “Just Do It!” It survives even to this day. Using star athletes like Bo Jackson, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods, the commercial showed clips of athletes competing in their respective sports. In between each of the scenes, they compared them with regular people doing regular things but inferring that they, too, with the right athletic shoe could also be successful at sports. The closing words of each commercial were, “Just Do It!”
Peter’s instructions to the church are much like the Nike campaign. God gives us His word, in this case like bullet points and simply says to us, “Just Do It.” Let me tell you why I can say that. There is a form of grammar in the Greek language (the original language of the New Testament), called an Imperative Command. It is an appeal to the will and not to the heart or mind—although it affects both. Imperative Commands are not logical arguments. They don’t make an appeal to our reason. In them God simply says, “This is my word, now just do it!”
Have you ever noticed how God in the Bible often presents us with truth in bunches or through lists? In Galatians, for example, He lists fifteen “acts of the sinful nature” and nine “fruit of the Spirit” in just six verses (Galatians 5:19-24). Seven gifts of the Spirit are named in Romans 12:6-8. Here in 1 Peter 3:8-9 we are given eight instructive commands in just two verses—and they all have to do with our relationships with one another.
- Live in harmony with one another. The word harmony means “to be of the same mind.” The idea is that of two people traveling the same mental path together with mutual goals and objectives, “having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose” (Philippians 2:2).
- Be sympathetic. The Greek word for sympathetic is the compound verb sumpatheo. Sum means “together with” and patheo means “to suffer.” Sympathy speaks of a relationship or affinity between people in which whatever affects one correspondingly affects the other—even if you’ve never experienced the same type of suffering yourself. It’s hurting you because they hurt.
- Love as brothers. This speaks to brotherly love—the behavior of Christians toward each other. God says we are a spiritual family of brothers and sisters. Yes, we fight and squabble at times but our love for one another should always prevail.
- Be compassionate. This refers to a feeling down deep inside. You’ve heard the expression, “bowels of compassion”? It’s a feeling of tenderness and pity for one another as we go through trials. It combines with mercy that even though someone may not deserve it we’ll make sure they will receive it.
- Be humble. “Not high minded but lowly in mind,” Paul told the Philippians, “Do nothing from selfishness or conceit but in humility consider others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4).
- Do not repay evil with evil. It’s never pay back time for a Christian—no matter what comes your way. God is very clear in His word that we are not to seek revenge but leave it up to Him to repay if there is a wrong committed against us (Romans 12:19-21).
- Do not trade insult for insult. Flip Wilson, in his comedy routine used to respond to an insult against him by saying, “Well, you’re another one!” The KJV of the Bible uses the word “railing.” The opposite of that word is “praise.” Doesn’t that tell us something?
- Be a blessing. The word for blessing is eulogia, from which we get our word, “eulogy.” Do you know when most people receive a eulogy? It’s at their funeral—when they’re dead! Let’s bless people while they’re living and it will truly be a blessing.
That’s the way the Bible is my friends. God in his word guarantees a lot of blessings for those who obey it. In other words let’s, “Just Do It!” We’ll be so glad we did, especially when we receive His eulogy in return. Maranatha.
