Pastor’s Thoughts – 08-17-2025

The Lord Jesus before going to the cross said to His disciples, “In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). The promise of difficulty should be of no real surprise to any of us because we know from Genesis following the sin of our original parents that God told them, “Cursed is the ground because of you” (Gen. 3:17). World history is full of wars, catastrophes, disease, and death. Anyone following the history of loved ones who have gone before us knows that they lived lives marked by difficulties, and some with such difficulties that they were beyond the bounds of measure. There are really no exceptions to people having difficulties. Some may have less than others, but all are marked by strain and trial ultimately leading to death. This is because the natural man is in sin and under a curse. Not only is our nature by birth bent on evil, but our environment is corrupt, and Satan has been given authority to serve as a powerful force against us and against all good.

I have come to understand that just knowing our situation in this world, and believing our Lord is the most significant factor for overcoming. Why does it help? Peter said it best, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation” (1 Pet. 4:12-13).  This verse helps because it puts living by faith into practice knowing that it is a temporary and purposeful situation. A few decades back one of the popular ideas being promoted and seen repeatedly on bumper stickers was, “World Peace.” There will be “World Peace,” but only when the Lord reigns and eliminates the curse and transforms the inhabitants of the earth into those made into His likeness. While we wait on the Lord, Peter tells those in Christ not to be surprised by the ordeals of this current life, and he pronounces two powerful reasons why.

First, he says that our difficulties are likened to and in common with our Lord’s suffering. Knowing this should bring us great comfort because just as it was necessary for Him, it is also necessary for us. Second, he tells us it is for our testing. The word, “testing” (peirasmos) means literally putting to proof. It has a purpose for good in our development toward God’s eternal goal. But Peter goes further to describe what should mark our attitude in difficulties and says we should, “Rejoice with exultation.” Why would he make such a statement? This is similar to the statement made by Paul, “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Philippians 3:10). Paul, like Peter, encourages a righteous attitude contrary to our initial nature, but a new one longing for identification with our Lord through similar trials and testing. Both Peter and Paul are telling those who are in Christ Jesus that in all our difficulties the hand of our sovereign God is forming us into something far more important than our comforts in this life.

Living today in modern America is strange to the child of God. We have more abundance of food and material blessings to ease the harshness of life than any people in history. Yet, corruption is so extreme it is like sitting down to enjoy a nice picnic in a fire ant bed next to a West Texas feedlot. If you have ever been near one of the massive panhandle feedlots, you will understand. God in His grace grants us times of less stress in our fallen world, but these times are not related to joining the corruption, but instead, are given by God despite such corruption. Our peace and joy must always come from our faith in Christ. The Psalmist says, “In You, O Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be ashamed. In Your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline Your ear to me and save me. Be to me a rock of habitation to which I may continually come. You have given commandment to save me, for You are my rock and my fortress. Rescue me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the grasp of the wrongdoer and ruthless man. For You are my hope” (Psalm 71:1-5). This Psalm was written three thousand years ago, and it is current and applicable today regardless of the sophistication of our lives.

Peter says of Lot when living in Sodom that he was, “Oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men…and while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds” (2 Peter 7-8). Even when we have times of a sense of relaxation from personal trials, we in Christ should be continually vexed as strangers and aliens in this world system. We need Christ just as the Psalmist says, and we need to be continually reminded of who we are, where we are, and importantly where we are going. Only in the promises of God can we overcome the world and have the kind of joy that Peter expresses as, “Keep on rejoicing.” Here is the spiritual dichotomy; while we are troubled by trials in this life and vexed by our world, we glory in Christ Jesus and rejoice knowing that it is all part of the plan to prepare us for the joys of glory.  Brethren, find your hope and your sense of thanksgiving and joy in Christ Jesus.