1 PETER 5:10-11 – And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
THEME OF THE DAY. IT WILL BE WORTH IT. Our journey to heaven will not be traveled on a smooth road. Our pilgrimage to our eternal home will not be smooth sailing. Our fight of faith will not be free of spiritual bruises. Our running the race to the finish line will not be without falls and scrapes. Our warfare against the devil will not go without wounds. And should we find our Christian walks relatively easy with no awareness of the intense spiritual battles we face every day, be alarmed. Be warned. Every true Christian is a soldier – “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him” (2 Timothy 2:3-4). Now, I am not attempting to create doubt in any of us of salvation, but it is very healthy for us to remind ourselves just what the Bible says is the Christian life. We simply cannot let our contemporary Christian culture or a leaning on our own understanding define the Christian life. God’s Word calls it a hard race, difficult course, intense fight, raging battle, and will exhaust the very marrow of the warrior/disciple of Jesus Christ. It is in these descriptions of the Christian life we must interpret the serious words of our Lord Jesus, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:13-14). Not all that claim to be Christians are so. And not all who claim to follow Christ are, but neither of those statements are judgments. They are calls to evaluate ourselves considering the very narrow way the Lord Jesus and Bible describe the Christian life. As we do, and the Spirit of God affirms to us we are on the journey, fighting the fight, running the race, and doing battle against all our spiritual foes, let’s take some encouragement from today’s scripture to keep us keeping on.
In the difficulties of living out the Christian life, the first eight words from the Apostle Peter are so uplifting – “And after you have suffered a little while”. Friends, the journey has an end; the fight will be over; the battles will cease; our foes will be destroyed, and we will forever bask in the glory and beauty of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And when that day comes, what is our glorious Lord going to do? Jude tells us in one of the most wonderful doxologies found in our Bibles – “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen” (Jude 24-25). Jesus is going to present us to Himself as trophies of His grace; blameless and without spot or blemish. What a glorious and sure future we have in and from Him! So, as we continue to slug it out in all the challenges of the Christian life, and as we shed not a few tears on the way to heaven, hang in there and fight. Daily. When we see Jesus, every battle fought, every sin defeated, and every step of self-denying obedience we took will be worth it.
PRAYER: “Father, I praise You for the day of no more pain, no more tears, no more suffering.”
QUOTE: “Every moment of suffering for His Name will be worth it when we see Him.”