When You're Stuck in the Midst of Trials

FROM HEAD KNOWLEDGE TO HEART KNOWLEDGE:

1. EVALUATE WITH HONESTY  What trials are you facing?  What kind of perspective have you been confronting them with? 

2.  start right now Ask God to help you view the trials you are facing in truth: through the perspective that they are temporary.  Ask him for help to rejoice in the amazing future and hope he has for you, even as you experience trials. 

Transcript

Happy Easter!

I want to talk today about how the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead gives us more than just a day to celebrate with family and food and candy and church. It gives us a living hope every single day of the year, and hope for whatever you're facing in the classroom and in your life this week.

Let's read from First Peter, chapter 1. I'll start with verses 3 and 4:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you."

And down to verse 6:

"In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials."

Let's work through this.

He starts off by telling us we have a living hope because we have been born again because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And that is the truth, right? The resurrection of Jesus Christ does so much. But among that, it gives us, if we are in Christ and trusting in him, the ability to be born again to a new life in him, and, in verse 4, to an inheritance that is not perishable, not defiled, and does not fade away.

But this inheritance is reserved in heaven for us. We get pieces of it now. We have the Holy Spirit as our down payment and so many benefits in Christ now. But the biggest part of our inheritance is still in the future.

Which brings us to verse 6. Because in the meantime, life is not always easy. He says, "In this you rejoice." You rejoice in your inheritance, though now, for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials.

And that's where I want to kind of focus here, because a lot of times in the day-to-day, we get really bogged down by our trials. Whether they're small, medium, or very grievous things that happen to us day in and day out—in the classroom, in life—they can be very burdensome. We can get weighed down by them.

But this perspective changes that. The idea that because Jesus rose from the dead, as we celebrate today—because we are born again—we have an eternal inheritance, and we're only grieved because it's necessary for a little while. All this is temporary.

We have an amazing, imperishable hope for the future.

So this Easter, I want you to consider whatever trials you're facing: they are temporary. You have an amazing hope and an amazing future. And God wants us to rejoice in that future, even though we are still grieved by various trials.

So meditate on this truth and allow it to give you strength for whatever you're going to face this week.

FROM HEAD KNOWLEDGE TO HEART KNOWLEDGE:

1. EVALUATE WITH HONESTY  What trials are you facing?  What kind of perspective have you been confronting them with? 

2.  start right now Ask God to help you view the trials you are facing in truth: through the perspective that they are temporary.  Ask him for help to rejoice in the amazing future and hope he has for you, even as you experience trials.