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New? February 20 Devotional

by David Joynt on February 20, 2025


1 PETER 4:16 | 16 Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name.

 

The distinction between righteous and unrighteous suffering may seem simple and almost not worth mentioning. But remember that these early Christians often bore the official label of being antisocial criminals. Also many Jewish leaders considered them apostate and blasphemous. Over time, and after a number of deadly persecutions, they proved that their loyalty to Christ was compatible with Roman citizenship, if not emperor worship.

 

Peter is encouraging his readers to become independent of their social surrounding, since they are misunderstood and mischaracterized by Romans and Jews alike.

 

Are you independent of the social views of our culture about Christianity?

 

 

Gracious God,

May cultural constraints never hinder my faith in you, or its public expression, even when others misunderstand what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

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.

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