WHAT DO WE TELL TROUBLED SOULS?
You know a group
(or a family or an individual) that is having a rough ride in life and
you know it’ll get worse before it gets better and you purpose to write
them a letter. How would you begin it?
There’d be nothing at all wrong in saying something like, “Ah, dear
people, we have heard of your pain and loss and we want you to know that
our hearts are with your hearts…” Surely there’s always a place for the
expression of fellow-feeling and sympathy!
But troubled people need more
than sympathy—of course! Where it’s possible we need to get involved in a
“hands on” way to alleviate if not completely eradicate their
difficulties (doesn’t Matthew 25:34-40 call us to that and more?).
After the meal has been eaten
or the warmth of the personal visit is only a memory something must
remain with them! The meal and the warmth and the clothes should all be
given but there comes a time when the person must carry the burden alone
and something must be put into these people that stays when the helpers
depart.
Peter writes to people in trouble, people despised and
rejected by society, people who are undergoing suffering and will face
even more in the days ahead. And how does he open a letter to that kind
of people?
In 1:1-3 he tells them who they are!
He tells them they are God’s
chosen! He tells them that they are the people made different by the
Holy Spirit! He tells them that they are the people covenanted to God by
the blood of Jesus Christ (see Exodus 24:1-8). He later tells them that
though they are rejected by their peers and despised by them that they
are chosen by God and that he sees them as precious (1 Peter 2:4). Then
he tells them that however scorned and mistreated they are that they’re
God’s holy nation and royal priesthood with a destiny and a commission
that beggars description (2:9-10).
Peter doesn’t deny their trouble—far from it! Read the entire short letter in one sitting and see what I mean.
But he opens his letter reminding them who they are!
Imagine them sitting in their little assemblies and hearing these words
read out to them (1:1-3, and the rest). If they can really believe these
almost incredible claims will their lives not be transformed and will
they not find joy as they see their trials as part of the suffering of
the Lord Jesus? “Will they not be thrilled as they ask themselves, “This
is who we are? This is really who we are?”
And how should we speak to our troubled brothers and
sisters throughout the world? What should we say to tiny assemblies in
far-off places that are suffering for their faith? And to those nearer
at hand! Is this not a direction we should go? In wise and caring ways
should we not—before we speak of their troubles but never forgetting
that they are troubled—should we not tell them who they are?
Tell each other who you are! Unpack the meaning of who they are. Our people don't know who they are.
Get a hands-on involvement in things that can be changed for each other.
Then tell each other again who you are!
Keep on telling one another who you are!
Keep on telling one another WHOSE you are and therefore who you are!
[And while we're at it—tell the happy and blessed who they are!]
[And while we're at it, tell troubled non-Christians what kind of God GOD is. Tell them noble things about God!]
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