Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God on this behalf. For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator. [1Peter 4:16-19]

"…ashamed..."
Shame is one of the potent weapons that the devil uses today to destroy the believers commitments and love for Jesus. Many profess love for the Lord, but the love has not become all-encompassing and all-consuming. They have not become suffused and captivated by that love to the extent where suffering any ridicule for His sake simply becomes a pleasure. Many have accepted Jesus by confessing His deity, but they want to hide their profession lest they are labelled fanatic . They prefer to belong to Christ in the private than to identify with Him in the public. They want to follow the Lord but also want to be acceptable in the eyes of the world. They want to serve both God and Mammon at the same time, which is an impossibility and a hypocritical reality because, no true child of God exists who boasts of acceptance on both sides. In fact, Bible reveals that the love of the one is the hatred of the other.

The One who is not ready and willing to suffer shame for His Lord has really not begun to love the Lord in an experiential way. Such a person cannot partake of God’s glory when He eventually appears for His own.
There are other times believers love to just keep quiet in the world without revealing their identities. Even though they do not approve of the evil being done around them, yet they silently go on, as if in agreement, so that the world does not see them as uncooperative. This also stems out of a reservation not to want to suffer shame for Christ.

"...not be ashamed..."
True Christianity is never ashamed to be called by the name of The Lord. It rejoices when abused, slandered or ridiculed for the sake of Christ and His cross.
When people call you names because you appear or behave like Christ, and they disdainfully laugh you to scorn, do not be ashamed, and never begin to reduce your commitments. Never begin to modify your conversations to conform to the world a little. It is an indication that you are getting ashamed of the Lord you claim to profess, instead of rejoicing that you are partaking of His sufferings.
I must begin to take pleasure in abuses and ridicules for the sake Christ, I must look forward to it.

"...glorify God on this behalf"

What you may be thinking will dehumanise you, is actually what God approves of to exalt you. What you think will belittle you in the eyes of men is exactly the same thing that will honour you before heaven. This shows clearly that God and the world are completely opposed one to the other. The way up for one is always the way down for the other. You can never be in the two camps at the same time. You must choose one, and whichever you choose is automatically a rejection and a disapproval of the other.

"If the righteous are scarcely saved..."
This calls for some deliberations and deep thinking. Why would the Bible say that the righteous will be scarcely saved? Why would the righteous be barely saved? Why would lots and loads of righteous men miss eternal life? Is the criteria for eternal life not righteousness again?
The reason why lots of people who are righteous and holy will still be scarcely saved, is an issue that must not be handled with levity. Many believers will labour for the kingdom of God the way they know how, and yet, the gate of heaven would still be slammed shut against them just because of this issue. Apostle Peter in these verses of consideration, is hammering upon it for those who have ears to hear clearly that the issue of accepting the sufferings for Christ with joy, is very fundamental to the faith of every believer.

Today, suffering for the cause of Christ is viewed by many from a worldly perspective. They say that those who are partakers of Jesus Christ sufferings do not know how to claim their rights with God. Those who suffer are seen to be weaklings, they are regarded as men who cannot pray well to possess their possessions. They are labelled as those who do not have strong faith, and do not know their God.

The present day gospel now focuses on making it in the world. It believes that the violent takes it by force (a passage often misquoted out of context), and the things to claim by force now are no more eternal things, but the goods which the Gentiles also seek. Faith has been misconstrued as a tool to make believers elaborate and flamboyant in competition with the world, rather than a complete trust in God to make one stand unashamed, even if it means ridicule and shame.

Suffering for Christ is seen as poverty and reduction of a persons worth, whereas, Christians (as they profess) should be rich and be highly placed in the world. A critical look at those things the present day believer professes, show that the hearts of many have become stable, settled and attached to the things of this world. The hearts of so-called believers are already entangled in the affairs of life, and they have settled themselves into it. But, no warrior can please the Master who enlisted him to be a soldier, when his affections have shifted from eternal things unto earthly and ephemeral pursuits.

Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. [2Timothy 2: 3-4]

These are the days we count our blessings by the abundance of things we possess. Our prayers are geared towards being men of substance in this world. We erroneously believe now that we are overcoming the world by surpassing the world in how much money and goods we have amassed. Our definition for riches, blessings, enlargement are now the tangible, countable, visible and physical things of the world which will soon perish. We daily praise and worship God because goods, gadgets and fame have increased, our investments are stored up in this world. Shame and suffering for Christ is no more an index of spirituality, but now an aberration…

Because of all these ephemerals that are making Christians to compete with the world, we have lost sight of heaven. We are neither interested nor are passionate about heaven again. Little pains for the course of Christ are getting too painful. We are quick to organise night vigils for God to wipe away our tears in this world and position us with the worldly elites, whereas we are weak to pray when our hope of heaven is getting dimmer and dimmer.
THIS is the reason why the righteous will scarcely be saved. The righteousness of the righteous will not be powerful enough to break them from the worldly entanglements they have enmeshed themselves.

The Christian who will be saved is a very light one. He has not weighed himself down with so many additions of the world. Even though these worldly additions look legitimate, they always drag men down and reduce their vigour for pursing eternal life. The Christian who will be saved, is the one that the world has not entangled him. He sees properly that suffering for Christ is equal to glory with Him. He is not chasing the world to catch up with them, instead, he is running in the opposite direction. His own definition for riches and blessings are not in the tangible things of this corruptible world, but in the eternal riches stored up in heaven. He spends his money, talents, time and life not to amass the things the world loves to see, but to invest them in heavenly things. He does not count his blessings based on the amount of shares he has in the money or capital market, neither does he rate his achievements by the amount of money he has in the bank or by the amount of properties he has acquired. Rather, he sells off what the world calls assets and invests them in heaven by giving to the Lord and to the poor, so that his worldly riches can be translated into heavenly treasures.


When he is abused for the sake of Christ, he does not enter into fasting and prayer because of that so that God can elevate him (that is the concept of the world), rather, he knows that he is elevated already by God, so he counts it all joy, knowing that such sufferings have added to his credit in his heavenly account. He lives for God and for heaven alone. To Him to live now is Christ. He lives no more for money, no more for business, no more for fame or certificate. He does not live anymore for name. He now counts all the gains he once had as dung that he may gain more of Christ.

Friend, the righteous will scarcely be saved because the righteous is beginning to count worldly gains and success as equal to righteousness. Many righteous men will be disappointed on the last day because their prayer points have changed. Though they claim not to serve mammon today, but all their prayers and pursuits reveal that their regularity in church and in things of God are only a means of using God to pursue their worldly ambitions.

“...if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.