But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; (16) having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evil doers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.  (17) For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.  (18) For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit. 

In our verses today, Peter calls the faithful to a holy lifestyle because of the great gift of salvation bought for us at the infinite cost of Jesus on the cross.  A holy life is not automatic but is achieved by continuous acts of the will – not by emotion but by the intellect.

Because of sin, man is born with a corrupt nature and there is nothing man can do to save himself/herself. Only the perfect sacrifice of Christ Jesus could redeem us – could save us from spiritual and physical death. At the moment of faith in Christ man is reborn, sealed with the Holy Spirit and transformed. Our sins are covered.

In faith, we want to break with our past lifestyle and in faith we are justified in Christ. We are made right with God. The process of sanctification begins and God will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.  Good works are not enough – only Jesus is – but sanctification begins in the mind. The faithful begin to act purposefully and what we think and believe we begin to live.

Where there is no conviction (belief) of sin there can be no redemption through Christ. We live in a corrupt and perishable world – we are in enemy territory as strangers in a strange land. Our behavior – all behavior, public and private – must be holy in this secular world. The faithful cannot progress to be Christians unless we grow in personal knowledge of God. The more we give of ourselves the more capable we become of receiving God’s free grace. This growth of knowledge is through prayer and the Scriptures where God reveals Himself to us. Remember it is not important what we think of God but infinitely more important what God thinks of us.