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Peter says this is the kind of value you should place on your faith. There is nothing in your life more important, more valuable, more precious, and there is nothing you should be unwilling to forgo for the sake of your faith. There is no possession or person more critical to you than the faith that unites you to Jesus Christ.

Given how important our faith is, we should respond in two ways: testing and tending.

We ask this question of those causing us some amount of frustration, difficulty, or pain. When we think about the trials we face in life, we may want to direct that same question towards God. Is that really necessary, Lord? Peter, a man who went through some trials of his own, would say, “Yes, they absolutely are.”

Why does God allow us to suffer? Why does he allow us to experience long seasons of pain and struggle? There are a variety of answers to that question, some answers he reveals to us, others he keeps to himself. But verse 7 shows us one of the most important reasons: to test the authenticity of the most precious thing in our life--our faith.

In the first 5 verses of 1st Peter, we have enough good news to fuel an entire lifetime with joy. That’s why Peter says “in all this” you greatly rejoice. In all what? Everything he just said in vs. 1-5. In verses 1-2, Peter describes God’s loving choice to make us his very own. In v. 3 he describes a true and living hope we all hold because of the resurrection of Jesus. In verses 4-5 he tells us about an inheritance we have been given that will never cease to amaze us and that can never be taken away.

One of the most painful experiences during trying times is that of loss. As Peter writes to exiles, he recognizes that his readers no longer have things that they once relied on and even treasured. Some have lost positions in society, familial relationships, and valuable possessions.

Loss is a word we hear a lot about right now. Some of us are experiencing it quite painfully. All have lost a sense of normalcy in life, some have lost life savings or jobs through economic trouble, others have even lost family and loved ones.

May God bless America. May God bless us during these trying times. May God grant us his blessing as we fight this virus. During difficult times, these are all phrases we are bound to hear in one form or another. But when Peter spoke into difficult times, he pointed words of blessing in an unfamiliar direction to many of us. Instead of saying “God bless us,” he tells Christians, “Let us bless God.”

To be blessed quite literally means to be happy, favored, praised, or spoken well of…

Some have described the phrase “elect exiles” as a two-word sermon because of how packed it is with meaning. Let's consider each word:

An exile is someone who has been rejected. They no longer have a place they can call home. This idea is further elaborated when Peter uses the word dispersion. These are God’s people who have perhaps been rejected and have been dispersed, living in places unfamiliar and inhospitable. For an exile, the areas of life once relied on and trusted in are now very uncertain.

Receiving a letter from someone important can mean a lot…especially during hard times. I can remember personally, during some of my hardest days in 15 months of drug rehab how excitedly I would open letters from my family. Receiving a personal note of encouragement and care in the midst of difficult days made everything a bit more bearable.