MONDAY September 25th
1 Peter 3:13–14
‘Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed.’
As I said in our previous devotion, I will use the study I have previously given on a Friday evening, probably over a year ago for the devotions this week. I will split the study into five devotions, I was going to re-write them, but for the sake of ease I will leave them as is with the understanding that the five devotions need to be considered as one whole!
In these few verses from 1 Peter 3:13-17, Peter highlights it as ‘suffering for righteousness sake’, and notes that if we are willing to suffer or be persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for that which is right in God’s sight, we will be blessed! It is an echo of the words of Jesus himself in Matthew 5:10 ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’
None of us likes to suffer in any way, be it in the natural or physical, let alone spiritually as a believer, nor do we want to be persecuted, but Peter says that our first priority should be to honour Christ the Lord as holy, which means that there will be times when we will have to be willing to stand up against all the odds stacked against us to protect the faith, to defend the things that we most surely believe.
Note what Peter says in verse 17 ‘For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.’ We could paraphrase this as ‘It is better to stick out like a sore thumb and to suffer for it, rather than to join in with those who oppose righteousness’, and God will never allow us to suffer in any way whatsoever unless it is in accordance to his will for us, and we can rest in the confidence that if and when we suffer in his name, his grace will be sufficient to carry us through. Peter says that those who slander us, those who would be the perpetrators of our suffering will be put to shame, therefore in contrast it is essential that we along with the apostle Paul can confidently say ‘For I am not ashamed of the gospel’ Romans 1:16, we will stand firmly upon it and stand up firmly for it in speaking up in its defence, for to be ashamed of the gospel would lead to us one day being found ashamed before God.
Suffering is a part of the course of being a believer in the hostile world in which we live, it is part and parcel of our being willing to be different, to live with godly standards rather than the world standards, to live for Christ and for the glory of God, rather than to be fulfilling the desires of the flesh and going with the flow of the ungodly society in which we live.