In Peter’s day the church in Asia Minor was experiencing mild persecution, mistreatment, and social hostility because of their commitment to following Jesus. As tensions begin to rise in the world around them, they have two options; they can either stoke their fear of the future or allow God to stir their faith in Jesus.
Like the church in Peter’s day, we too experience social hostility. And we too have the same options; we can either stoke more fear about the world around us or allow God to stir our faith in Him.
By looking to Jesus’ life as an example, we see what it looks like to endure suffering and stir our faith. Rather than fighting back against the culture or assimilating into the culture, we allow God to grow our faith when we work to transform the culture through our suffering and submission. The first step in doing this is to honestly ask ourselves, “who am I called to submit and suffer for?”