To Invite Others to Life We Must. . .

In 1st Peter 3:18-20 I stumbled upon something that struck me as odd. One reason is that I do not recall ever reading this particular story about Jesus dying and preaching to imprisoned spirits. The second is that as I walk through the life that the Father has given me, I know that I am called to become more and more like Christ, which makes me wonder how this fits in to that process. In this text we see Jesus dying on the cross and preaching to spirits in prison. Now this passage has been thought of as one of the most difficult passages to understand in the Bible so I will try to tread lightly here. The purpose of this entry is only to say that it appears that as Christ moved towards death he invited others to life. The reason I believe that his sermon was one of life is that He came and died to do the same for all of us, to give us life, I am assuming that He was doing the same here.

So how does that apply to us? First you must understand what moving towards death means. I’m not speaking of a literal death but a figurative one. A quick example is an angry man needs to feel powerful because to feel small and powerless is too painful or disturbing. To move towards being powerless would be to move towards that which feels like death. We all have our own personal death which we avoid at all costs, however, when we do this we ALWAYS miss the opportunity to invite others to life. A meek wife who will not confront her husband about his pornography addiction is avoiding this because to do so would feel like death to her. Her fear is that he would be angry, reject her or not care enough to stop. So, she never invites him to life.

What is true is that she would find that having a voice to say something would actually become life after she entered into that scary place. Christ would be there for her. And her husband’s heart would be stirred, would become intrigued as she fought for him. Whether or not he stopped isn’t the issue, the wife moved towards death and found life, and she would be inviting her husband (to stop his addiction) to do the same, move towards death and find life.