Sufferings Are Not Without Purpose

Today's full reading: 1 Peter 1:1-12

"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." (1 Peter 1:6-7)

We begin Peter's first letter today in our devotional readings. Peter wrote to the young church as a season of terrible persecution was just beginning. The realities they faced were stoning, flogging, imprisonment, torture, and martyrdom.

Peter knew that suffering for the sake of the gospel was not in vain. In fact, our sufferings serve, among other things, to strengthen our faith.

Today, as an act of worship, thank God for being an ever-present help in times of trouble. Praise him for revealing that our sufferings are not without purpose. Ask the Lord for the strength to persevere under trial.