1 Peter 3:13

"And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?"

1 Peter 3:13

Context:  Before this verse, the writer was talking about how you should be respectful and obedient to your employers, your political leaders, and your spouse.  After this, at a glance, it talks about trusting God even in hard times because Jesus suffered too.

Thoughts:  So based on those, let's look at this verse.  It is essentially a question.  If you are a follower of good, that means that you are not a follower of the counterpart which is bad.  Two sides.  So the person who would harm you would definitely not be your comrades, that leaves the other side.

I am remembering the movie, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.  It is part of the Narnia series and the most famous of those.  In this movie, you have a family where the children were sent to the country side where they would be safe from the bombings that were occurring due to the war.  These children accidentally ended up in going into another world, literally, from their own byway of a special wardrobe.

In this movie, you have a Christ figure named Aslan who is a lion.  Then you have the counterpart, a white witch who pretended to be queen of Narnia.  The four children who came were there to essentially redeem the throne that Aslan had set up for the Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve thousands of years earlier.

Through a series of events and trials, three of the children made it to the place of the final battle.  However one had unwittingly betrayed his family and was in the hands of the witch.  Aslan sent a rescue party, but according to the rules of the land, someone who betrays another is the witch's to kill.  Aslan took the young boy's place (even though Aslan was innocent) and died for him.  Then rose up the next day and saved Narnia.

So what does this have to do with the verse?

I mentioned that there are two sides: good and bad.  When you live your life as Jesus wants you to, sometimes people close to you that should be on God's side will hurt you or do things that is very unChristian.  They are not necessary on the devil's side, but are acting on the devil's behalf regardless.  They may not even realize they are.  Like the boy in the movie, they were tricked or unaware of the harm they were causing.

So when I ask you "who is he who will harm you" and your first thoughts is someone in your church or a loved one... don't assume they are bad people.  Pray for them and believe in God to make all things right someday.