The holy God, righteous suffering.
But happy are you, even if you suffer because of righteousness! Don’t be terrified or upset by them. Instead, regard Christ the Lord as holy in your hearts. Whenever anyone asks you to speak of your hope, be ready to defend it. 1st Peter 3:14-15 CEB
I sat down to write this blog based on the insight I had on this verse about a month ago. However, reading it again, I thought to myself, what’s the correlation between suffering and God’s holiness? Why would Peter say instead of concentrating on our suffering, we should regard Christ the Lord as holy in our hearts? Then, after that we should gear up and be ready to defend and speak of our hope. All the while, suffering? Hello Peter?! Lol.
If you have ever been through a rough time—and I mean rough! You know how tempting it can be to doubt all the promises or prophecies (personal or otherwise) you have received in times past. Worse, you probably know how it feels to hold on to hope and yet not see the fulfillment of that which you wanted; a different kind of pain. Begs the question: why would I regard Christ as holy in my heart when I am going through a rough time? How does that help with the pain? Some of us may even go close to the edge and say, “Why will a holy God…….”?
Before I make my submission, will like to ask you, do you consider what you are going through now—do you consider it suffering for the sake of righteousness? In context, are you lonely now because your ex, although super loving and ‘perfect’, did not have a relationship with Christ, and so you eventually had to leave? Are you crying now because, although you could not answer 60% of the questions in the exam hall, you made a commitment not to cheat in any form?
Are you hungry because you refused to sleep with that sugar daddy who promised you 2000 Ghana cedis if you would only open your legs for one night? Are you jobless, or did you lose that promotion because you refused to go out with your boss? Relatable? Have more examples? Well, you get the point.
I submit to you just like Peter, plainly and simply; regard Christ as holy in your heart, and when anyone asks you to speak of your hope, defend it! The Holy God knows; the Holy God sees. Psalm 23, verse 3b reads “he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”
Sometimes the paths of righteousness can also be the paths of suffering. But herein lies our assurance, that if it be for his name’s sake, the Holy God will not become unholy towards his children. To speak of and defend our hope in him, regardless of the circumstance, is to regard him as holy, without bias, no iota of injustice. Therefore, on the path of righteousness/suffering, His holiness is our deepest assurance that He can be trusted.
I leave you with this: for if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. Romans 5:10
The Holy God, descending as Jesus Christ, saved us once, reconciling us to the Father. But here’s the catch: even now, he continues to save us. If when we were even sinners, he died to save us, do you really think the living Christ will not continue to save us now that we have been reconciled with him?
Do you really think that now that you have given up that man/woman, failed that exam, given up that money, promotion, and job, he does not have the power to save you? He has already saved you once by giving you the power to break free of that sin and now you think he is done with you?
Regard him as Holy for your suffering does not make him unholy. Regard him as holy, for then you will see that the path of suffering you are on for his name’s sake is really a path of righteousness, and guess who leads us on the path of righteousness? Yes, God himself! Again, we who know our God understand that he is as holy as he is just, having fixed our eyes and heart on him, will not be put to shame.
SELAH.
Written by Ivy Hollys
