1 Peter 1:6-9 - Why do Christians suffer?

We are in a series called: When Life Gets Hard and we are learning from the Apostle Peter, who was one of Jesus' closest disciples and he was one who knew suffering and experienced great persecution. He is writing to believers who had never seen Jesus, yet had a deep faith in Him, and He is encouraging them as they too were suffering and enduring trials. He is also including us here. 

When I was a kid, my dad and I loved to go back packing, and sometimes we’d see amazing wildlife. And while hiking along he’d exclaim out of the blue, there they are. What? Big Horned Sheep! And I would be looking in the wrong direction. So he would take his huge hand and physically turn my head so that I would see what he was referring to. 

Peter is taking our collective heads and is turning our gaze away from our present circumstances to an unimaginable future reality that God has prepared for us who love Him and are called according to His purpose, and that is our eternal inheritance.

Last week, in vs 3-5,  we learned three great truths:

• 1st: We have been born again with changed minds that desire to know and do the will of God, because we have a living hope based on the truth of Jesus' resurrection from the dead. 
• 2nd: We have received an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade, reserved for us in heaven.
• 3rd: We are being guarded by God's power through faith until the day our salvation is fully revealed. And because of that we can rest and be at peace when it seems like our lives are falling apart. 

Peter wanted suffering believers to know that their future was secure because of what God has done for them.

But that naturally raises an important question.

If we have a living hope...
If we have an eternal inheritance...
If we are being guarded by God's power...

Then why is life still so hard? So difficult?  Why do Christians suffer?

Why does God allow grief, loss, disappointment, sickness, persecution, and hardship? Why do I have so many BIG emotions & triggers?

The Christian life is lived between two realities: presently, we live in a fallen world with everyday struggles, and at the same time we long for our future home without the effects of sin in the glorious Kingdom of God.  REALITY!

And while we wait for that glorious day, God is at work—preparing us for His eternal Kingdom and the vehicle for this includes various trials, not fun.

Let’s read the passage. NLT this week

1 Peter 1:6-9 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls. NLT