When trouble comes, it’s easy to focus on what you do not have. You do not have relief. You do not have comfort. You may not have the physical freedom you once enjoyed. Such a focus easily turns to complaining and grumbling.
But that’s a terrible way to live. Even if it’s accurate, it’s not helpful. It doesn’t accomplish anything. It doesn’t make you feel better. In fact, complaining and grumbling are self-sustaining activities, vocalising your dissatisfaction reinforces your dissatisfaction and makes you want to vocalise it even more.
By the time the apostle Peter got around to writing his first letter, there were Christians scattered all over the known world who were enduring terrible persecution, a kind you and I probably can’t even imagine. Jesus had told them He would be right back, but it had been decades, and there was no sign of His return. Worse, they were being hunted down and murdered for their faith.
Where was Jesus in the midst of all this? They didn’t have Him, at least not in the flesh. They didn’t have relief. They didn’t have comfort. They didn’t have the physical freedom they once enjoyed.
They began to focus on what they didn’t have, and it wasn’t long before it turned into complaining and grumbling. Some were even beginning to doubt this whole Christianity thing.
Peter countered this by reminding them of what they had received. Rather than focusing on what they lacked, he advised, they should focus on what was theirs because of their faith in Christ. For example.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade — kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith — of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls (1 Pet 1.3-9).
Peter calls his readers to hope — not to dream or wish, but to hope — in Christ. His desire is that we rest in the promises of God and rejoice in the assurance that the future will be better. Amid present and difficult dangers, we are justified in viewing the future with optimism because we are securely attached to the God who deals in futures.
Nero and Rome may do their worst. The Chinese government may imprison, and the Courts may seek to remove any vestiges of our nation’s Christian influences. They do not get the last word — God does. And because of our relationship with Him, we will emerge from the fires of trial victorious.
Cling to that hope! Cherish that hope! Live in and out of that hope!
Prayer
Father God, I am so tempted to focus my attention on what I do not have instead of being thankful for the many blessings You have already bestowed on me. Too often, I approach life from a perspective of deficiency rather than sufficiency. And when I fail to be steadily grateful for Your many tender mercies, I succumb to the sin of grumbling and complaining. Too often, I make my joy contingent on the outcomes I want, rather than the promises You have made. I confess the sin of grumbling and murmuring against Your provision and plans when these do not meet my expectations. I realise that unless I see all of life as a gift from You, I will develop an entitlement mentality that expects things You have not promised. Teach me to focus on Your promises for a future with You that will transcend anything I could hope for in this world.
In Jesus’s name, Amen
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