For the last few days, I've been reading one of Peter's letters that he wrote to Christians in what's now the country of Turkey. Now, I still have one chapter to go, but the main point of the first four chapters is something that we kind of shy away from in the church, but which I thought was so important to keep in mind that I thought I'd write about it a little bit.

Now, 1 Peter is chock full of awesome stuff as it is (I've got at least a page of notes per chapter), but the main story of the first four chapters is what appears to be a Biblical Principle: it is good to suffer for doing what is right.

That's so important that I'll say it again: it is good to suffer for doing what is right. Peter thinks it's so crucial that he spends four chapters talking about it. Even Christ Himself had something to say about it:

Now, I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound that exciting. I mean, Jesus said that we should suffer just like the prophets did? Have you read about Jeremiah? They threw him in a well! You know about Hosea? His wife constantly cheated on him. That kind of suffering is supposed to be good? Why in the world would I want to be like them?

But that's the kind of thinking that we hear every day:

Why would we want to do those things? Isn't it just easier to do what's wrong, instead of getting knocked-around for doing what's right? Why would we want to do that? Well, Peter has things to say about that. Peter uses several different examples, ranging from a husband and wife to a slave and his slave-owner, to get across his point: you underestimate the power you have been given. See, you make impressions on people all the time, no matter what you do. So if you do what's right, even when it's hard and causes you pain, that affects people. If you do what's right, even when it causes you pain, it makes people think to themselves, "Why would they do that?" What Peter says throughout these first four chapters is that having the courage to do what's right, even when it's hard, can bring people to God. You can bring people to God. And yes, it's hard. You might have to endure some pain. But look what your faith and resilience can do! It can bring people closer to God. Christ said that's worth it.

In fact, He said this:

"...let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:16)

People will see you doing what's right, even when it's hard, and praise God. That's pretty awesome.