Here Peter speaks to them about enduring persecution. This is something that we know very little about in America. Satan uses different tactics to get us to give up the Christian life. He distracts us from serving God by wealth, work, family, culture and many other things. However, we still need to resist these things much as Christians did in Peter's day. Satan made life very difficult for those Christians. They often had to suffer or even die for their faith. Today, Satan makes life very easy for us. We must LIVE for our faith. Sometimes, that can be even more difficult than dying for our faith.
Peter tells the Christians that they should never need to suffer as an evildoer. But, rather, they should suffer as Christians. If they suffered as Christians, they were not to be ashamed. Instead, they should glorify God. Sometimes, we as Christians can be ostracized by those around us. We don't need to be ashamed. We should be glad to be bearing reproach for the name of Christ. Peter tells us that God sometimes judges Christians when they sin. How much more will there be judgment on those who are not Christians. We should, therefore, be glad to suffer for the name of Christ and not be ashamed of the Gospel.
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