Reference

1 Peter 5:1-14

Grace, Mercy, Hope – In the Midst of Suffering

 1 Peter 5:1-14

 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. [1 Peter 5:10]

 Grace, mercy, and hope are key themes in 1 Peter; suffering is an important sub-theme. In the midst of suffering, something that we all experience in this life, we can respond with grace, mercy, and hope. Impossible, you might say. Yes, I would agree. It is impossible in the natural man; it is quite possible supernaturally.  

When Stephen was stoned his final words were, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” [Acts 7:60] That was radical faith! Yet it is a faith that we can experience and have in the here and now. It is a genuine work of the Holy Spirit.  

“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church” [Tertullian], and describes so many who have gone before us. Even today the sheer number of Christians dying for their faith are more than ever before. Yet it continues to be His grace, mercy, and hope that flows from these martyrs that cultivate the harvest.  

“The harvest truly is plentiful but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” [Matt 9:37-38] The reality, however, is that the laborer will experience suffering. Jesus warned, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God.” [Luke 9:52] The context of this is discipleship, a follower of Christ [“following Jesus”]. Count the cost when following Jesus, because there is one.   The late great football coach Vince Lombardi, a Christian, said to his championship team that “the real glory is getting knocked to your knees and getting up.”  

In this life we get knocked down, and not only once. In suffering we learn to hold on to Jesus for dear life, because it is in Jesus that we are humbled and refueled with supernatural grace, mercy, and hope.  

In these we rise [again and again] and press onward and upward toward the goal of His glory.