The end of all things is near. Therefore, be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.(1 peter 4:7-11)

First Peter 4:7–11 echoes the themes in 2:11–12 of abstention from evil and an exemplary way of life that results in glory to God in view of the end. Peter begins by saying the end of all thigs are near; “the end is near” signifies the final stage of that redemptive process, which leads to its consummation in the return of Christ. Therefore, the Christian is to live in light of the nearness of “the end” as it is defined by Christ’s resurrection. One implication of this truth is that Christians are not to be rooted in this world as the description of them as visiting strangers and resident aliens (1:1; 2:11).The Christian’s sense of value, self-worth, and identity are to be rooted instead in the eschatological hope into which they have been born again (1:3).

**Peter gives four practical ways that his readers are to live out Christ’s victory in Christian community:

1. Think rightly and be clear-minded so you can pray.

2. Persist in a love for one another that “covers” sin.

3. Be graciously hospitable to fellow believers without complaining.

4. Serve one another with the gifts of grace you have received.

Being sober minded means to keep our mind steady and clear. When we live in a world which is hostile to the gospel, it is difficult to keep our thoughts clear, but Peter reminds us that we need a clear mind so that we could pray. Prayer is very vital for living out Christ’s victory in this hostile, sinful world.

Peter exhorts his believers that the end of all things are near so earnestly, persistently or deeply love each other. “Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs” (Prov. 10:12 NIV). By Peter’s definition, “love” is not a warm, fuzzy feeling but means treating others in the Christian community in such a way as to promote unity and to avoid or overcome behaviours that destroy relationships.

The fundamental characteristic that enables a Christian community to survive is the willingness and ability of its members to love one another. Clement of Alexandria called hospitality akin to love. Because Christians have been reborn by God into a new and living hope that characterizes the final stage of God’s redemptive plan, they are to be graciously hospitable to one another. It is this quality of openheartedness toward one another that is the basis for a Christian hospitality willing to minister to other believers even in the absence of warm feelings and even when relationships are strained.

Peter implies that each Christian believer, by definition, has received a gift of God’s grace. That experience of grace is to be directed toward service to others. God has graciously bestowed His gifts upon his children with an expectation that we would use all of those gifts to serve others. Peter says when we use the gifts to serve others, we are being a faithful steward of God’s grace.

Do not forget we are living in a world which is destroyed by sin and it need a fix. Jesus died to fix the problem of sin and we are spoke men of that truth. May our words and deeds would communicate this eternal truth to the world to the glory of God. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.