“Be careful how you live; you will be the only Bible some people ever read.” –William J. Toms

This quote reminds me of one of my favorite verses in the Bible which is 1 Peter 4:11: “Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

First of all, we must speak the utterances of God. We as Christians all know that cussing and using dirty words is wrong, but we sometimes seem to not mind hearing people fight or use words that would be hurtful to someone. 1 Peter 3:1-2 says, “In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior.” Although this is talking to wives, everyone can take something out of it. For instance, if you don’t get into arguments over silly things, you don’t gossip, and you speak kindly to everyone, people are going to start catching onto that and wonder why you are different from others.

Secondly, we can serve by the strength which God supplies. Service is really what our Christianity is based on because we are serving God by being baptized and doing what He asks of us. Like it says at the end of Galatians 5:13-14, “But through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” We are supposed to serve one another, but also let us not act like we have to do this but show that we want to do this. Some examples of ways to serve would be raking an elderly couples’ yard, babysitting someone’s kids, or helping out with some church activity. Being cheerful about serving others can help everyone around you appreciate Christ’s light within you. Serving with a bad attitude will make it miserable for yourself. Staying cheerful will help you and others. Serving isn’t just about the physical labor you do for other people, it’s also about being there for others when they need to talk or being there to welcome the visitors at church to make them feel comfortable. Serving can be anything godly that makes others feel loved and special.

Jesus should be our number one role model because He was perfect and He gave us all a great example of how we should serve, love, speak and act altogether. We should all be striving to work at these acts described in this verse. When you are dealing with a struggle in your Christian walk and you don’t know what to do about it, open up your Bible and see what Jesus did. He has gone through everything we have, but without sinning. Remember, people are watching us. We never know when someone around us might be looking to us for guidance and we should be the ones shining Jesus’ light.

“For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously” (1 Peter 2:21-23).

By Abigail Warnes
Abigail Warnes (age 16)  is the fifth of nine kids and is the proud aunt of two nieces and a nephew. Homeschooled by her parents, Jon and Laura Warnes, they all attend the Miller Street Church of Christ. Some of her hobbies include decorating cakes and sewing.