1 Peter 1
Pause:
Before you start reading this devotional, take a moment to stop what you’re doing, slow down and focus on Jesus.
Pray and ask him to open your eyes to see as you read the scriptures, and to open your ears to hear as you wait on the leading of the Spirit.
Read:
1 Peter 1v1-25: “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ:
To those chosen, living as exiles dispersed abroad in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, chosen2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.5 You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.6 You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials7 so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy,9 because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who prophesied about the grace that would come to you, searched and carefully investigated.11 They inquired into what time or what circumstances the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when he testified in advance to the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you. These things have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to youby the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—angels long to catch a glimpse of these things.
13 Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be sober-minded and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance.15 But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct;16 for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.17 If you appeal to the Father who judges impartially according to each one’s work, you are to conduct yourselves in reverence during your time living as strangers.18 For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold,19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb.20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was revealed in these last times for you.21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
22 Since you have purified yourselves by your obedience to the truth, so that you show sincere brotherly love for each other, from a pure heart love one another constantly,23 because you have been born again—not of perishable seed but of imperishable—through the living and enduring word of God.24 For
All flesh is like grass,
and all its glory like a flower of the grass.
The grass withers, and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.
And this word is the gospel that was proclaimed to you.”
Going Deeper:
This week our Devotionals are going to work through the book of 1 Peter. A book written by Peter the Apostle to a community of believers to encourage them to persevere and endure through the trials they were facing (1v6-7), and to look ahead and be filled with joy at the thought of Eternal life and their eternal inheritance that was to come (1v3-4).
And there is a tension here, throughout this letter and in many other places in the scriptures. It is a tension arising from the fact that we can experience both simultaneous grief and joy in the Christian life. A grief that arises from the trials, suffering, sin, injustice and evil that we experience that exists in the world around us, and even in our hearts and lives. And a joy that arises by faith from our relationship with Jesus, our experience of His salvation, and our hope for eternal life free from sin and suffering, beyond this life in the new heavens and the new earth.
1 Peter 1v6-7: “You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials7 so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
But Peter speaks to them and to us, in the midst of our “various trials”, and tells us how even our trials (that cause us to suffer grief) can be a gift to us.
He tells us that the trials we endure are like a refining fire, or a crucible, testing our faith. These trials expose and reveal what is inside of us: the impurities, sin, idols, selfishness, pride and ungodly junk in the recesses of our hearts and lives, that would only be exposed through the heat of an extreme situation. And which we are often blind to, even though they exist in our lives.
But, once they have been exposed and brought to the surface, this creates a space for us to repent of them, deal with them, bring them to God and be cleansed and freed of them.
One commentator writes: “The trials burn away any impurities in the believer’s faith. What is left when the trials have ended is purified, genuine faith, analogous to the pure gold or silver that emerges from the refiner’s fire.”
What impurities in your faith are being brought to the surface by the trials of this time? How are you responding to this process? And are you letting God not just bring them to the surface, but also deal with them in your life?
Peter lets us know that on the other end of the testing of the trial, is a proven faith, that God himself calls more valuable than gold!
I don’t know what you value most, what you wish you had here and now? But Peter would tell us that in God’s estimation, a proven faith is more valuable than anything. And that even now, as we endure suffering and difficulty, and as we struggle in the midst of the various trials of this season, that God is at work in our lives. And that we should look ahead and be encouraged, because one day, when we stand before Jesus, there will be “praise, glory, and honour” for the work that He has done inside of us!
Pray:
Respond to God in prayer by speaking to Him about what stood out to you from this passage this morning.
Listen:
What is the Holy Spirit saying to you this morning?
Apply:
What are you going to do in response to what God is saying to you from the text and by the Spirit?