Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. (1 Peter 4:12-13)
Since the Fall in the Garden of Eden, we are living in a broken world as broken people interacting with other broken people. Because of this biblical truth, suffering is certain, as certain as the fact that sun will rise in the east tomorrow morning and set in the west.
Make no mistake: No matter how well we walk in obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ, we are not shielded from suffering. Take even a cursory glance through the Scriptures at the lives of those who were living right in the center of God’s will, and you will see that, no matter how well we walk worthy of the calling of the Lord on our lives, suffering is certain. Would anyone reading this disagree with the idea that John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, was living in the center of the will of God as he preached and baptized in the name of Jesus? Yet John was imprisoned and ultimately put to death for his unflinching obedience to the Lord.
Our passage of Scripture for today came from the pen of the apostle Peter, who was intimately acquainted with suffering for his Savior, and it tells us that suffering is not to catch us by surprise. Suffering is as promised as it is painful. But we are to rejoice in suffering — not for the pain, but for what the pain is doing to us: conforming us more and more into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ. Earlier in the same epistle, Peter explained that “These [trials] have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:7).
Remember, God is working everything out and everything in as well. God is working everything out according to the counsel of His will in order to advance the cause of His Kingdom. He is working everything in us to make us more like Jesus, proving the reality of our faith. May these truths set us free to be all that God is calling us to be on days the sun is brightly shining . . . and on days when the storm winds are blowing hard against us.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 