¹Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, ²so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.

The example of Christ’s suffering has been the object of emulation for Christians since the very beginning. The human experience (“in the flesh”) of our Lord Jesus Christ is on full display in Scripture, and no more so than in His suffering. Yet this is more than just a model. We have an assurance that the One who was tempted to cave in to the hopelessness of suffering also is now able to help us resist that hopelessness: “For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted” (Heb. 2:18).

So, while He helps us, we must nevertheless do our part, and that is to align ourselves with the same purpose that Christ had in His suffering. What was that purpose? Just as He endured unjust suffering in order to save people from their sin, so too, we must embrace unjust suffering with a higher purpose. We have a choice. We can cave to the pressure to recant our faith in a loving, sovereign God who has our back, who will bring about a just result. Or we can embrace our persecution as part of following in the path of Christ.

Christ did not “cease from sin,” as though He had been sinning, and then through suffering learned to stop it. Scripture says, “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15).

No, Peter is applying the suffering of Christ to us. When we embrace the suffering that comes with persecution, we neutralize the temptation of falling back into the world’s ways. This is fundamental to the Christian life.

Temptation toward worldliness comes not only in the form of physical and verbal persecution, which deprive us of our physical well-being, but also in the form of our own lust. Temptation toward the lust for power, sex, money, or prestige poses the problem of persecution because if we do not give in, we suffer the loss of something we desire. The greater we hold onto those desires, the greater the temptation and the greater the fear of catastrophic loss if we lose or do not attain them.

The alternative is for us to live for God’s will. That is our higher and more significant purpose; that is the focus for how we handle suffering in our lives.

Lord, help me embrace the suffering of letting go of that which I deeply desire that prevents me from living completely for Your will.