by Pastor Mark Chin
Sometime during the latter half of the first century AD, decades after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Apostle Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote a letter to encourage and advise Christians who were suffering increasing persecution for their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. That letter is the Epistle of 1 Peter and it has much to say about testing and trials.
In the opening section of this letter, Peter presents one of the great realities of the Christian life. Contrary to the heresy of many alleged Christians and prosperity gospel proponents who sell the lie that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the ticket to your best life now, the Apostle Peter affirms the reality that the new life in Christ is frequently (one might add characteristically) beset by trials, tests, and suffering in this world.
Furthermore, those trials, tests, and suffering bring genuine distress, grief, and pain even as noted in 1:6 “you have been distressed by various trials …”
Yet how often are we shocked or disappointed when a believer we know suffers under trial, openly expressing grief and distress? How often are we surprised or upset when the test God has sovereignly placed in our lives is hard? How often do the questions rush through our head, “Why is this happening to me?” “Why is this so hard?”
The lies we battle with, of course, are that somehow if I’m a good Christian or have enough faith, I should be exempt from suffering, pain, loneliness, and adversity. And if trials do come, somehow the Gospel should allow me to float through those trials as if I was numbed out on Valium or Percocet – not having to feel any distress, grief, or pain.
Peter, in his letter, offers no such lies to those Christians who are suffering increasing persecution in the early church. What he does is put our trials and distress in a Gospel perspective. Though trials and distress are real, even as they were for Christ on the cross, they are temporary, not eternal. They are part of God’s sovereign plan of love for our lives. Unlike the trials and distress of unbelievers, for the child of God, trials are accompanied by a supernatural joy. I do not say replaced – but accompanied. This is the paradox of the cross – the paradox of the Christian life – sorrow accompanied by joy.
What is the source of that joy? It is the revelation of God’s gift of grace – genuine faith. Peter in 1:7 informs us that testing by God reveals in the true child of God undeniable proof of genuine faith – a faith more precious than gold, a faith which will result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Loneliness, pain, discomfort, hardship – no one wants or longs for these things. But as people begin to see evidence of a love for Christ and the fruit of the Spirit in the face of such things – the proof and assurance of a genuine faith in Christ will bring us joy and will cause all those who are watching to marvel at the grace of God in our lives.