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But even if you should
“But” — strong contrast. In contrast to suffering for sin, we suffer for “righteousness’ sake.” We either suffer for our sin or we suffer for God.”If” in the Greek expresses strong doubt that they will suffer for righteousness.
“If” deals with contingency. Suffering may not happen immediately. There is a risk of suffering. Pain always looms around the corner for all of us. Peter says, “I wish you were suffering for righteousness’ sake but you are not.” They were suffering for self.
Principle:
We all face the risk of suffering and pain.
Application:
Sooner or later we will all face suffering. If we depend on happy times to establish our character we will have a great fall one day. If we depend on the circumstances of life to make us happy, we will ultimately experience misery. We generally do this in periods of prosperity.
All of us will experience pain in our lives. Pain is for our growth. God allows two kinds of misery to come into our lives: primary and secondary. Primary pain comes from God’s sovereign placement of pain to gain our attention. Secondary pain is self-induced misery. This comes from personal sin. We pay the consequences of our choices.
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