2024 Fasting Devotional

Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.

1 Peter 4:12–13

Suffering is an unavoidable aspect of the Christian experience. There isn’t a scale of how much suffering a believer must go through, but the principle is that the one who genuinely believes must suffer. To take it a step further, the Apostle Peter makes it clear that we should expect suffering and not be alarmed when it comes.

In 1 Peter 4:15, Peter warns against a believer who suffers because of their personal choice to sin. Whether the choice was made from a place of ignorance or it was an intentional choice, the truth is that this type of suffering isn’t included in the ‘fiery trial’ that he is describing in verse 12. Suffering on behalf of Christ is the only suffering that is in Peter’s view.

We should also be clear to point out that Peter is not glorifying humiliation or irresponsibility. To live without common, necessary resources during your short stay on this earth doesn’t make a believer more holy, in the same way that having material abundance doesn’t make you less holy. Peter simply states that each believer has their own personal degree of suffering that they are to be faithful in.

Although it is natural for us to compare our degree of suffering with someone else’s, we must be mindful that suffering is not comparative. We are to constantly remind ourselves that when we “partake in Christ’s sufferings” we are not to look around at others, but we are to look upward to our motivation—which is Christ Himself.  Let’s rejoice and be glad at the privilege we get to share in like manner with what Christ had to endure.