envelop spinner search close plus arrow-right arrow-left facebook twitter

New? February 19 Devotional

by David Joynt on February 19, 2025


1 PETER 4:15 | 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or even as a mischief-maker.

 

Peter here offers a distinction to clarify his teaching on meaningful, glorious, transformative suffering. There is a vast difference between righteous suffering due to our loyalty to Jesus and his
values, and unrighteous suffering, due to our own moral and legal failures. This second form of suffering is a mediated form of punishment for our unholy nature, and so we bear the
consequences of living as a criminal. Sometimes this just form of suffering can lead to repentance and transformation, but in itself it is a judgement. Martyrs can’t be criminals! Not all those who suffer are righteous victims.

 

Have you experienced righteous and unrighteous suffering?

 

 

Gracious God,

Save me from my dark side. Let my suffering be righteous and not due to wrong or hurtful behavior.

Amen.

 

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

More from Pastor Joynts Devotionals

return to Pastor Joynts Devotionals