Ep 355 – 1 Peter 4:12-19

Rejoice in suffering. We know it's a command found in Scripture, but that doesn't make it any less difficult to grasp or pull off. In 1 Peter 4:12-19, Peter is going to give us a fairly blunt command to "rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings. And James, the half-brother of Jesus, wrote virtually the same thing in the book that bears his name. "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds." Both of these men sound like their elevators don't go all the way to the top. How in the world are we supposed to find joy in the midst of trials and rejoice because we get to suffer for the sake of Christ? For both Peter and James, the issue is one of outcome. As Christians, our suffering has a divine purpose. It is intended by God to purify and perfect us, like extreme heat refines precious metals. Neither one of these men is telling us to like trials. But they want us to realize that trials are a normal and expected part of life as a believer. In the hands of God, they are tools He uses to make us increasingly more like His own Son. So, when we find ourselves facing trials and tests in this life, rather than whine and complain, Peter encourages us to see them as opportunities to have our lives purified and our dependence upon God intensified. We are being perfected by Him and, therefore, we should rejoice like it.