1 Peter 4:16-18

S But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name! For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s Good News? And also,

“If the righteous are barely saved,
what will happen to godless sinners?”

O The persecutions the believers were facing, that peter is addressing, are divinely sent judgments intended to purify the people of God. How the believers respond to that judgment is really a major issue in this text. If God brings judgment to his own people “the redeemed” then surely he will bring judgment to unbelievers. Peter is reminding the believers that the difficulties, persecutions they face could be Gods judgment. He brings judgment in our lives to purify us.

A To be honest I am uncomfortable with judgment that comes from God. It is a different facet of how God interacts with us. Usually we think of mercy and grace when we sin against God. We talk about it a lot. We say that God forgives and forgets when we repent (and he does!). The truth is that God does bring judgment on us all and he starts with his people, the Church. God does discipline us. It safe to say that if he starts with believers that he may even really start with the leaders of the Church.

The key is to view difficulties as a chance to mature, a chance to allow the tests of life to build in us perseverance and greater faith. Secondly, difficulties in the light of God’s judgment, give us an opportunity to inventory our heart and to watch closely and see if God is graciously, bringing to light personal compromise, complacency, and disobedience to the surface for purification. I’m going to bring this to God in prayer and let him search my heart.

PLord help me to see that you bring a Father Love in the form of discipline. Purify me Lord. I heard a song when I 1st became a Christian and I’m reminded of the chorus. This is also my prayer and worship to you.

Search me O God
Look deep with in my heart
See if there’d me anything thing at all
That would keep me from knowing you
Keep me from serving you
Keep me from loving you dear Lord

1. This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 25th, 2007 at 12:28 pm and is filed under Gabe Barreiro, Journal Entry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.