If you are insulted
for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God
rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an
evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be
ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.
1 Peter 4:14-16
Peter writes about
suffering. And he writes to people who are no different from us. Who wants to
suffer? So, Peter writes to encourage these suffering Christians. And here is
one encouragement he offers: those who suffer for Jesus are blessed. Now, that means
absolutely nothing if 'blessed' is an empty church word. But if it means that,
in some way, God deals with us more favorably than before receiving His
blessing, then it means something really good. God is aware of and responds to
the faithfulness of Christians who suffer for Jesus' sake. Holding on to this
will be important as suffering touches our lives - and I expect that it will,
soon enough, in one way or another. Whatever is being lost because of the
suffering will be more than offset by the blessing.
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