Monday Devo
Scripture:
1 Peter 4
12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. 13 Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.
12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. 13 Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.
Commentary:
4:12–13 Beloved marks the beginning of a new section of the letter (cf. 2:11). Suffering is the norm for Christians, not a surprising exception. To suffer as a Christian is a call to rejoice as a disciple of Christ, and such joy is the prelude to the joy that is to come at the return of Christ (when his glory is revealed).
Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2412.
Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2412.
Questions:
- Peter closes chapter 4 with some pastoral encouragement for his readers that were undergoing real persecution for their faith. The first thing he says to do with suffering is to EXPECT it. Suffering is not unusual. So then, these fiery trials are not to take us by surprise but are to be expected. Instead, we usually get stuck on asking God, "WHY?? WHY ME??" This isn't a question someone asks that was expecting the trial all along. When you face a trial and experience suffering, does it take you by surprise? Do you tend to question God? How might you handle trials differently if you were expecting it to come?
- Instead of being surprised by suffering, we should rejoice! Peter says to EXULT IN our suffering. That means to feel or show triumphant elation or jubilation. Why would we be glad? Because our suffering makes us partners with Christ in HIS suffering. And when the world around us sees how we handle the trials in our lives, the result is that we EXALT Christ THROUGH our suffering. Verse 14 says when we suffer for His sake we are blessed by his Spirit resting upon us. And as we've talked about before, if you have God's Spirit in you, your life (including the way you handle suffering) should look differently than those who don't. Is that true of you? How can you better exalt Christ through your suffering?
Pray:
- That you would learn to expect suffering.
- That the world would see Jesus in the way you handle suffering.
This Week's City 7:
Try to commit to memory!
5. Why do I follow Jesus? I follow Jesus because Jesus rose from the dead proving that He is the way, the truth and the life.
(Matthew 7:24-27; John 14:6)
(Matthew 7:24-27; John 14:6)
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