Making It Home
We try so hard to be comfortable here in this life, a new chair, a fine meal, an evening of laughter with friends. God himself is the giver of every good gift. But the Christian life is not made up of our seeking new pleasures but in risking all for our suffering Savior. We learn as the years go by to dedicate ourselves, our talents, our hearts to the One who gave us back our life from the dead. Having made this supreme sacrifice for us we seek to not hold back when He asks us to live purposefully and deliberately for Him. In our decisions and questions our thoughts go to Him as we learn to pray for His will. But perhaps the hardest challenge of all is found in our response to suffering. These verses in 1 Peter sum up much of what Peter is trying to say throughout the book. He tells us suffering simply comes because we are Christians. References to suffering are found twenty one times in this short book. We are told to rejoice in our sufferings for the Spirit of glory and of God rest upon us making us overjoyed when we will see Christ.
Now the natural attitude for a Christian is to think suffering or persecution is strange at least abnormal. We might act surprised to learn that it has always been a part of the Christian life. It is in fact a normal Christian experience. Should we expect better treatment from the world than Jesus? Those who take Christ’s commands seriously will know the presence and power of the Spirit of God unlike others who don’t. Remember if a person is known as a Christian but does not live like it that one dishonors God. To bear Christ’s name is to take a great responsibility in this life and greater glorious rewards in the next. One Christian wrote, “If Christians suffer now for doing good, what will the unsaved suffer in eternity for all their ungodly deeds?” The word declares that even the righteous person is scarcely saved. So with all the trials and temptations it is truly a miracle of grace that any one makes it home. But it is God’s grace that daily saves and preserves us for heaven. This thought provoking passage ends with telling us to continue to do right no matter what the cost may be. Jesus knows that cost. Perhaps we should pause and consider the words of this well known hymn. Do we honestly believe it will be worth it all when we see Christ? Is Jesus Christ most important in your life? And is the next life your real life? Will we bow our knee and worship Him alone? Yes, He is asking to be our all in all.