TUESDAY September 26th
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.’
Peter highlights the subject of suffering in his epistle in the following verses, 1 Peter 4:1-2,12-19 and 5:8-11 which we will turn to during the devotions, but in his very first chapter and verses 6-7, he talks of the various trials, which would include the area of suffering, and in these verses he informs the readers of their purpose, ‘In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ.’
I guess we should be asking ourselves have I had to suffer for the gospel in some way? If we truly are standing up for it our answer should be yes! It may not be with having to suffer or being persecuted in as extreme ways as we hear and read about in some of the other countries of the world, but in some small way we should all have known some kind of suffering as we have stood up to defend the faith. And the perpetrators don’t necessarily come from outside, they may come from within the Church as we have had to stand firm upon a doctrinal matter or a moral issue and we have been ridiculed for it, maybe even called a bigot, maybe even have been badly treated by those whom we should be able to call our brothers and sisters. And sadly within the UK and the Western Church much of the opposition against the Christian faith and against the Word of God is coming from within, through liberalism, progressive Christianity (if it is Christianity at all) etc.
Going back to the verses in chapter one, Peter affirms to his readers that the various trials are proving the genuineness of their faith! James writing his epistle also says in 1:2-4, ‘Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.’ It almost seems to be a glaring contradiction to say ‘count it all joy when you suffer’, for nobody would willingly want to suffer, let alone rejoice in it, but there is a joy that comes from out of it that unless we go through it we will never know, Jesus is our prime example, as Peter says, ‘For Christ also suffered for our sins,’ and we learn from the book of Hebrews, he willingly suffered because he knew of the joy that lay before him, and today he is receiving immeasurable joy as he looks and sees those who have been washed in his blood, he has joy today as he sees you and me! And Jesus would say, ‘the suffering was worth it all!’