In his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the late Stephen Covey says the second habit begins with the end in mind. Covey writes, “The most fundamental application of ‘begin with the end in mind’ is to begin today with the image, picture, or paradigm of the end of your life as your frame of reference or the criterion by which everything else is examined.”1
The point Covey makes is why goals matter. Whatever the goal might be, we live with that end in mind. Peter concurs, too, when he says, “The end of all things is near”(1 Pet 4:7)2, albeit with a more nuanced understanding of what the end is.
The word “end” in our passage is the Greek word telos, which can be rendered with several English words, depending on the context. Typically these English renderings include words like the end, conclusion, or goal. Peter uses this word three other times in this letter, in 1 Peter 1:9, 3:8, and 4:17. 1 Peter 1:9, in particular, says, “for you are receiving the outcome [telos] of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” Peter is speaking about the overall goal of our salvation in this passage, the aim of God’s redemptive work in Christ.
The word telos is important in reflecting on the Christian doctrine of eschatology, which has to do with the overall goal or aim of God’s redemptive work in Christ. In the New Testament, Jesus has already been crucified, resurrected, and exalted as the Lord and Christ, so in one sense God has already achieved the goal of redemption. However, God’s redemptive work is not yet fully realized until Jesus comes again. So when Peter says that the “end of all things is near,” he has in mind the very consistent early Christian belief that history was in its final stage. However, the outcome of this history, the redemptive goal of salvation, was already decided in the resurrection and exaltation of the crucified Jesus and was now soon to be fully realized.3
Thus, when Peter speaks of the end, he knows that our future is already a done deal. Jesus Christ is coming again and we need not worry because in Christ we already share in this victory. This is why Peter began his letter referring to the “living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” that we have as an inheritance as “a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Pet 1:3,5).
What’s really important is that we see why Peter is referring to the end. As soon as Peter says the “end of all things is near,” his very next word is “therefore…” The entire passage of 1 Peter 4:7 reads, “The end of all things is near, therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers.” Because we will receive the telos of God’s redemptive work in Christ, our salvation, we ought to live with that end in mind. To borrow from both the words from Stephen Covey again as well as Peter, we ought to keep in mind the image or picture of our “living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
My intention here is to help us who profess to be Christians see the end for which we should live our lives. In short, we ought to be living our lives for the gospel—the good news about Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God. Yet from where I sit it seems like more and more Christians are caught in the web of partisan politics. This is a fool’s errand. Lee C. Camp humously but rightfully says “the hostile and beligerant partisanship among American Christians might be compared to a fistfight over table manners on the sinking Titanic.”4
What’s worse is that the pursuit of partisan politics says to an unbelieving world that what matters most is a donkey or an elephant rather than King Jesus. And any reprieve among society seems impossible, for just as the mid-term elections have passed the focus has turned to the 2024 presidential election. The pursuit of partisan politics also leads to divisions among churches with Christians standing on one side of the aisle or the other over whatever the latest political issue is.5 Ultimately, the divisive nature of partisan poltics hinders Christian witness just the same as denominational divisions do because the end is no longer about Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God.
In 1 Peter 4, we are instructed to live with the end in mind because “the end of all things is near.” As Christians, we must get back to our roots. Resist the chase of partisan politics and learn to live with the gospel end in mind again. If you’re wondering what that might involves, a good place to start is with these words in 1 Peter 4:8-11…
Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.
Let it be so among the church for the glory of God the Father, Son, and Spirit!
Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Restoring the Character Ethic, New York: Free Press, 1989, 2004, 98.
Unless otherwise noted, all scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition Bible, copyright © 1989, 2021 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission. All rights reserved.
I. Howard Marshall, 1 Peter, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series, Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Press, 1991, 140, who writes, “The universal Christian belief was that the End was near as a result of the coming of Jesus. The manifestation of the kingdom of God in him was the first stage in the complex event that we regard as the End of the old order. The cataclysmic event of the resurrection—and we should not underestimate how cataclysmic it was—would lead Christians to expect further events of similar and indeed greater magnitude in close connection with it.”
Lee C. Camp, Scandalous Witness: A Little Political Manifesto for Christians, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2020, 100.
As just one example, read Bobby Ross Jr., “Pandemic and politics exacerbate challenges facing an Ohio church,” The Christian Chronicle, September 17, 2022, available at https://christianchronicle.org/pandemic-politics-challenge-ohio-church/ (last accessed Wednesday, November 16, 2022)).