Journaling through 1 Peter | Christian wounds
“With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.”
1 Peter 4:14-16
They are surprised when we do not join them in the same flood of debauchery.
Sin feels good. It follows every wrong instinct we have to blindly do what we think will make us happy.
So when people of the world follow what makes them happy and see that we aren’t following, it doesn’t make sense to them. Why would we deprive ourselves of that? Moreover, why would we deprive them of that?
Because when we call out sin for what it is, the right instinct of our conscious brings sin to light and reminds us – it’s evil.
The haze of the false sense of comfort fades away and we’re left with emptiness, the devil feeding on our destruction.
For us that see it for what it is by the grace of God, we want to be as far away as possible from Satan’s harmful temptations.
They malign us.
And then they treat us the same way they treated Jesus when they heard the truth – with hate – because the truth reveals the guilt.
Bringing sin to light means there needs to be change. Some change from sin isn’t as difficult for some, while for others the sin is so entrenched in their lives that change seems impossible.
But as we know, God is the God of the impossible.
We can conquer anything through him and his love.
So when we see others struggling or heaping insults on us, we remember the journey we took away from a life of sin toward God, the pain and guilt that we had to deal with, and it gives us patience to lead them on the same journey Home to God.
But they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
Because, at the end of it all, they will stand before God to give an account.
During the hard moments, when we are insulted for following Christ, it can be hard to rejoice. It’s easy to get mad at them and can’t wait for God to execute his judgement.
We could take it personally. Or we could remember who they’re really maligning – God himself.
We could remember that that means they would never know the One who saved them.
And we would remember that if we stood before the Judge without Christ, we would be just as pitiful and deserving of hell.
So when we feel like we have wounds from being a Christian, remember to see what’s real – and remember the wounds Jesus endured for all, whether all come to him or not.
This verse is from the book of 1 Peter, a book that reminds us suffering for doing good is a part of life with Christ but comes with the ultimate hope that we have in the One who suffered more than any of us can imagine.
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