Thursday, June 25, 2020

Devotions: The Fiery Ordeal


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 also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.
1 Peter 4:12-13 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

The Greek word for “ordeal” literally means burning or refining. The word for testing means trials, temptations, difficulties, etc. As gold is refined through fire and crucibles, so we are refined through the suffering we experience. Whether it is some hardship like job loss or illness, or the test of temptation which will grow us if we resist, we should not be surprised that we are experiencing it. Jesus suffered every trial and temptation that we experience in some way. When we share in His sufferings (meaning when we suffer for His sake, either being persecuted for our faith, or enduring hardship in a godly way and resisting temptation), the Bible says we are blessed. We are counted worthy to suffer for Him and as He did. At the end of time, we will be rewarded for our endurance and perseverance when our faith is proven, we will have reason to rejoice in our suffering because of the growth it caused in us and because it was an opportunity to glorify God. The trick to growth and glory is that in our suffering we have to submit to God and surrender our lives to Him. Instead of feeling sorry for ourselves, we have to accept it as part of God’s will and trust His plan that it will work out for our good and His glory. It is important that we have a good attitude about it. That does not mean that we are always happy and pretend like it’s ok, but we should not complain, whine, or stay in the pond of self pity. That is the whole point of the “ordeal”, in order for refining to have its perfect work, we have to submit to its work and have a godly attitude. So how are you being refined? What testing are you facing? How can you have a godly attitude in what you are dealing with?



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Translations of Greek and Hebrew words taken from blueletterbible.org

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