If you don't slow down, verse 12 will fly right by you. But it's huge when you think about it. Peter says his purpose in writing is to assure his readers that "what they're experiencing" is part of God's grace to them. The whole letter's been about painful suffering to the point of death! That's part of God's grace? No wonder he finishes the verse by saying "stand firm." See, normally we think about God showing grace to us and it's all warm and fuzzy. It's not something you have to stand firm in. It's something to just kick back and relax and let it flow over you. There's truth in that, I admit. But what if God's grace means following Him gets harder? What if life after grace is more confusing, complicated and challenging than before? My experience says that many times it is. That is, if you're truly in God's grace.
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