Life is often difficult and frustrating. Needs and struggles are aplenty from the routine chaos of training young, self-preeminent rebels, managing difficult relationships at work, being a caregiver, enduring chronic illness, or having to switch careers or add a job for income to make ends meet. Struggles and brokenness tug on our tenacity to keep on keeping on.
These realities of life may seem to collide with biblical precepts like “In everything give thanks” (1 Thess. 5:18), and blessings like “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing” (Rom. 15:13). We know this is what we are called to believe and do, but where do we find genuine deep gratitude, joy, and peace instead of displaying them as platitudes or façades in the face of daily – seemingly unending – struggles?
Peter writes his letters to Christians displaced from their homes and disdained by their neighbors (possibly because the great fire of Rome in A.D. 64 was blamed on Christians). Uprooted and uncared for, the followers of Jesus needed fresh understanding and assurance of their belonging and hope. This is why Peter began his letter with a big-picture declaration (read 1 Peter 1:3-9 again), an avowal that God’s plan is beautiful and certain; an affirmation of two things: first, this is not where we belong, second, our current circumstances are temporary – “for a little while.” The inheritance that God has prepared for us, on the other hand, is “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading,” and we are “kept by God’s power” for the unending and full satisfaction he has in store for us.
Peter writes to beleaguered believers to mitigate their misery by keeping the big picture in front of them. Our confident expectation of this satisfaction is anchored in – not mere platitudes or positive ponderings – but the historical reality of Jesus walking out of the grave (1 Peter 1:3). He willingly experienced our suffering and death so that we could join in his resurrection and life.
Despite his massive portfolio of suffering (2 Cor. 11:23-29) Paul declared “we do not lose heart” (2 Cor. 4:1), but “we are always of good courage” (2 Cor. 5:6 & 8). He summed it up this way:
Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.
For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:16–18
The “outer self wasting away” is recognition of the frustrating brokenness of our current, temporary situation. We groan and lament, and that is okay. Be like the Psalmists and pray your emotions; God invites you to (Rom. 8:26-27). But brokenness does not have the last word; it is not our end; it does not define us. We know that things are not the way they ought to be, but we know the One who can and will restore all creation in newness (2 Peter 3:13).
What we believe about our future shapes how we experience the present. This is why the writer of Hebrews appeals to us to “run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, …who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, (Hebrews 12:1–2, emphasis added). To endure this temporary groaning for the joy that is set before us, is the point of the Scriptures, the Spirit, and the saints – the fellowship of God’s family. So pursue the inner self being renewed day by day in the refreshment of God’s abundant grace; and keep the big picture in view.
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