But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. (1 Peter 3:14-17)
If you read this, you are probably thinking about the Beatitudes, particularly the Beatitudes quoted in Matthew 5:10-12. When you read this passage or the Beatitudes, you will find that there is a particular mindset Jesus and Peter had in mind when they write about enduring through suffering. In general, people do not suffer well. What I mean by that is that people tend to suck at suffering– whether it be for righteousness that they are persecuted and suffer, or if it’s self inflicted suffering like credit card debit, fines, tickets etc.
Here’s the mindset that they have: know why you’re suffering and then live into it. In plain English, it means, hit it straight on as it is the will of God and endure through it by gritting your teeth and with faith in Jesus to get you through. It comes down to this: when you suffer for doing right or if you are suffering through your self-inflicted wounds and are doing right by enduring the suffering, then you have nothing to worry about. You see, Jesus suffered in doing right even though he had no reason to do so. It cost him everything. The reward of that suffering was life for you and me. It was His glory unfolding into human history.
Just imagine, if you would even bother to suffer through something, you would be at the pleasure of having the will of God unfold upon you. That is to say that you may be suffering to do something for God– to be a witness of His glory. In fact the suffering you do endure for doing what is right will come back to be a blessing in disguise.
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