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Since Christ suffered for us, we, his followers, should expect nothing less. Peter's letters, targeted to Jewish Christians driven out of Jerusalem and scattered, may have been written from Rome. There the great persecution under Emperor Nero was beginning. Throughout the empire Christians who refused to bow in worship to Caesar were being tortured and killed.

1 Peter 4:12-19

1. When faced with setbacks, Christians often complain that life is unfair. What (v. 12) is a biblical response to such complaints?
   
   
2. Why (vv. 13-16) is it a privilege to suffer for Christ?
   
   
3. Peter's reference to judgment "among God's own children" (v. 17) is about God's refining discipline (see Hebrews 12:5-11). But what judgment awaits unbelievers?
   
   
4. What are some ways that experiencing the consequences of your sin has refined you faith?
   
   
5. Is there suffering (v. 19) that isn't according to God's will (see v. 15)?
   
   
6. According to Peter, how should Christians respond when their suffering is in God's will?
   
   
7. Why should thinking of God as the Creator/Sustainer of the universe bolster your confidence that He won't let you down?
   
   

Ask God to spare you from suffering if He so chooses. But otherwise, in light of your eternal destiny, ask Him to help you face it with courage and confidence.

1 Peter 4:12-19

12 Dear friends, don't be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. 13 Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.

14 So be happy when you are insulted for being a Christian, for then the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. 15 If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people's affairs. 16 But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name! 17 For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God's household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God's Good News? 18 And also,

"If the righteous are barely saved, what will happen to godless sinners?"

19 So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.

Copyright © 2008 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Help me not to resist the trials You send my way, Lord, but submit to Your refining touch.

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