A Reason to Go On
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.
(1 Peter 1:3–4)
While most of us are not afflicted by horrible persecution for our faith, we do know what it means to face various forms of suffering, pain, disappointment, and grief. Fortunately, in the letter of 1 Peter we can find comfort and consolation for our own brand of suffering.
The first good news Peter gives us is the knowledge that we are “God’s chosen people” (1 Peter 1:1). What a helpful reminder! We aren’t just thrown on this earth like dice tossed across a table. We are sovereignly and lovingly placed here for a purpose, having been chosen by God. His choosing us was “according to the foreknowledge of God, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit,” that we may obey Jesus Christ, having been sprinkled “with His blood” (1:2 NASB emphasis added). Powerful words!
God has given us a purpose for our existence, a reason to go on, even though that existence includes tough times. Living through suffering, we become sanctified—in other words, set apart for the glory of God. We gain perspective. We grow deeper. We grow up!
Can you imagine going through such times without Jesus Christ? I can’t. But frankly, that’s what most people do. They face those frightening fears and sleepless nights in the hospital without Christ. They struggle with a wayward teenager without Christ. Alone, they endure the awful words from a mate, “I don’t want to live with you any longer. I want my freedom. I don’t love you anymore; I’m gone.” And they go through it all without Christ.
Yet if we will only believe and ask, a full measure of God’s grace and peace is available to any of us. By the wonderful, prevailing mercy of God, we can find purpose in the scattering and sadness of our lives. We can not only deal with suffering but rejoice through it. Though our pain and our disappointment and the details of our suffering may differ, there is an abundance of God’s grace and peace available to each one of us.
Taken from Hope Again by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 1996 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. Used by permission of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. www.harpercollinschristian.com
