Devotional Journal: Reflection on 1 Peter 4:12-16
EVERYBODY GOES THROUGH IT
Do you run from it? If you asked me, I would probably be the first person to say yes. Suffering, even if it is a result from doing good. When thinking about suffering, I always end up getting this uneasy feeling. It’s no escaping it in this life. We all experience it to some degree and in various ways. Some are marked by seasons and others are for life. It’s easy to despair if you look at suffering with isolated lens. When you approach it with a holistic viewpoint you may see it in a different light.
hE TOOK ON THE FULLNESS OF IT
What if you knew that you were going to experience the pinnacle of suffering? Would you still go through it? Not for nothing but for an unspeakable joy on the other side? This is what Jesus went through. Born into brokenness, betrayed, tortured and killed. Experienced all of this in His flesh. To know the realness of it all. Before His death He prayed for another way but ultimately knew that this was the only way. This was real human suffering. Jesus Christ took on the full weight of suffering so that we wouldn’t have to.
hOPE WE HAVE
If I am to share in His glory, I must also share in His suffering. This is not actively looking for ways to suffer. It is not finding enjoyment in it either but understanding that suffering will happen. What I do know for sure is that only by faith can I see the other side. By His grace I am able to make it through to the other side and by His love there is a guarantee of the other side. Whatever you suffer for the sake of Jesus Christ will never be in vain.
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.-1 Peter 4:12-16
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2025. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.