1 Peter 4:12-14

"Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange is happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the suffering of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the spirit of glory and of God rest on you."

1 Peter 4:12-14

A lot of the time, we as Christians don't think of the word suffer to be a good thing, but to suffer for Christ is the greatest thing a Christian can go through for his Master, God Almighty. The thing is, if the world don't see the difference in us, then they have no need to persecute us, which means we are living like the world and not like Christ. When you suffer it could be physical pain or emotional pain, you could be beaten, thrown in prison, killed or just mocked, put down by others, and not having popularity. We should rejoice when we go through these sufferings because we're suffering for Christ which means we're serving the God who gave us life and He looks down and says "Good job my good and faithful servant." That should be the only thing that matters in a Christians life, to be able to hear those words come out of the mouth of God Almighty. And yet we sit at the house watching tv, playing sports, driving in our nice car, caring about our reputation, rather than the God who spoke and everything was put into place. We should be so ashamed of ourselves, because we have denied Him over and over again, and yet he still forgives. That is why we must suffer because he suffered for us. We are so worthless and yet he suffered so much for us and every time we deny him, it's just like we spit in the bloody face of Christ and say "we don't care what you did for us." That's exactly what we do when we deny him and turn to the world. And when we call back for forgiveness, He looks down at us and says three amazing words "I Forgive you." All I can say is Wow! what grace and mercy that our God has for us selfish beings. We should praise God like Paul and Silas did when they went through suffering in prison. In 1 Peter 4:16 says "However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name." We need to rejoice and not curse God when we are persecuted because we bear the name of Christ, which should be the greatest honor, since He's the Creator of the universe! Just remember next time you get persecuted for your faith or things just don't go your way, that you don't even deserve to be alive and yet Christ has given you so much. How Great is our God!

To God be the Glory!