I've been thinking lately how becoming a Christian doesn’t guarantee that our lives are going to be better. God doesn’t promise us that this life will become easier and better for us, but He does promise forgiveness of sins and that we will be have eternal life in Heaven (John 3:16,10:28).
Reading 1Peter at the women’s Bible study has made me think even more along these lives. During the time of the early church, becoming a Christian often meant that your life would become much more difficult. The churches which Peter wrote to were experiencing persecution from their community, and Christians at the time were accused of being atheists, cannibals, and enemies of the state, just to name a few. A slave who became a Christian would no longer steal from his master the way the other slaves meant, meaning he may go hungry. A slave who became a Christian did not experience an easier life, but rather a more difficult one. In countries where the gospel is not tolerated, congregations don’t meet in buildings for church but rather in attics and in the woods. A Romanian pastor (founder of ‘Voice of the Martyrs’) attended church in such places, and spent fourteen years in communist imprisonment and torture. Richard Wurmbrand and many others, who have been tortured for being a Christian, didn’t persevere because of any promise for a great and simpler life. Rather, they rejoiced in 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. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see’ (1peter 1:3-4nlt).
No matter what we may face in this life, it is only temporary. We are not to just invest in our life here on earth, wanting to be as comfortable and happy as possible. We are to live for the next life, which is eternal and will be spent in the presence of God. Also, it is through trials and persecution that we may grow spiritually and become more like Christ. James 1:2-4 exhorts us to count it all joy when we go through hardships because we may produce endurance, and when this endurance is developed we will be perfect and complete lacking nothing. If the goal of man is to become like Christ, we can joyfully accept circumstances that will allow us to have a taste of His suffering, rather than just trying to avoid it.
I think it is important to note that the apostle Paul did not introduce himself in his letters as a ‘king’s kid’ or ‘royalty’ but as a slave. This life isn’t meant to be our place of convenience, comfort and paradise where we ‘get the best of everything’. Jesus is to be our everything and our life is to be lived in whole submission to Him, not because He takes away all of our problems but because He is worthy.
Reading 1Peter at the women’s Bible study has made me think even more along these lives. During the time of the early church, becoming a Christian often meant that your life would become much more difficult. The churches which Peter wrote to were experiencing persecution from their community, and Christians at the time were accused of being atheists, cannibals, and enemies of the state, just to name a few. A slave who became a Christian would no longer steal from his master the way the other slaves meant, meaning he may go hungry. A slave who became a Christian did not experience an easier life, but rather a more difficult one. In countries where the gospel is not tolerated, congregations don’t meet in buildings for church but rather in attics and in the woods. A Romanian pastor (founder of ‘Voice of the Martyrs’) attended church in such places, and spent fourteen years in communist imprisonment and torture. Richard Wurmbrand and many others, who have been tortured for being a Christian, didn’t persevere because of any promise for a great and simpler life. Rather, they rejoiced in 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. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see’ (1peter 1:3-4nlt).
No matter what we may face in this life, it is only temporary. We are not to just invest in our life here on earth, wanting to be as comfortable and happy as possible. We are to live for the next life, which is eternal and will be spent in the presence of God. Also, it is through trials and persecution that we may grow spiritually and become more like Christ. James 1:2-4 exhorts us to count it all joy when we go through hardships because we may produce endurance, and when this endurance is developed we will be perfect and complete lacking nothing. If the goal of man is to become like Christ, we can joyfully accept circumstances that will allow us to have a taste of His suffering, rather than just trying to avoid it.
I think it is important to note that the apostle Paul did not introduce himself in his letters as a ‘king’s kid’ or ‘royalty’ but as a slave. This life isn’t meant to be our place of convenience, comfort and paradise where we ‘get the best of everything’. Jesus is to be our everything and our life is to be lived in whole submission to Him, not because He takes away all of our problems but because He is worthy.
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