Study Desk

God has something stored up for you in heaven, where it will never decay or be ruined or disappear.

You have faith in God, whose power will protect you until the last day. Then he will save you, just as he has always planned to do.

Some prophets told how kind God would be to you, and they searched hard to find out more about the way you would be saved.

Be alert and think straight. Put all your hope in how kind God will be to you when Jesus Christ appears.

Always live as God's holy people should, because God is the one who chose you, and he is holy.

That's why the Scriptures say, "I am the holy God, and you must be holy too."

You say that God is your Father, but God doesn't have favorites! He judges all people by what they do. So you must honor God while you live as strangers here on earth.

And when he did come, it was to lead you to have faith in God, who raised him from death and honored him in a glorious way. That's why you have put your faith and hope in God.

Do this because God has given you new birth by his message that lives on forever.

Come to Jesus Christ. He is the living stone that people have rejected, but which God has chosen and highly honored.

And now you are living stones that are being used to build a spiritual house. You are also a group of holy priests, and with the help of Jesus Christ you will offer sacrifices that please God.

It is just as God says in the Scriptures, "Look! I am placing in Zion a choice and precious cornerstone. No one who has faith in that one will be disappointed."

But you are God's chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation. God has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now you must tell all the wonderful things that he has done. The Scriptures say,

"Once you were nobody. Now you are God's people. At one time no one had pity on you. Now God has treated you with kindness.

Always let others see you behaving properly, even though they may still accuse you of doing wrong. Then on the day of judgment, they will honor God by telling the good things they saw you do.

God wants you to silence stupid and ignorant people by doing right.

Respect everyone and show special love for God's people. Honor God and respect the Emperor.

God will bless you, even if others treat you unfairly for being loyal to him.

You don't gain anything by being punished for some wrong you have done. But God will bless you, if you have to suffer for doing something good.

After all, God chose you to suffer as you follow in the footsteps of Christ, who set an example by suffering for you.