Pastor Tricia's Ramblings

1 Peter 1:1–13 — Living Bold in a Broken World

What goals are you working toward? What do you wake up thinking about? What fuels your decisions, your schedule, your anxieties, and your joy?

Is it your dream job? Your education? Your kids or grandkids? Your marriage? Recognition? Ministry success?

Every one of those matters. They are beautiful gifts. They are worthy pursuits.

But they are not ultimate pursuits.

And that’s exactly where Peter begins his letter. He writes to people who feel displaced, discouraged, and pressed into corners of the world where they do not fit. And he reminds them—and us—that the goal of our lives is bigger, greater, stronger, and more glorious than anything we can build or lose here.

We live for the glory of God.

And we live by the grace of God.

Everything else flows from that.

A Letter to the Displaced (1 Peter 1:1–2)

Peter opens with:

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To God’s elect, exiles scattered…”

This letter starts with identity. Not place. Not circumstances. Not pain. Identity.

Elect. Loved. Chosen. Known. Set apart.

Yet also exiles, strangers in the world, people who don’t fully belong where they live.

This tension defines the Christian life.

We are loved by God but often misunderstood by the world.

We are chosen by God but often rejected by culture.

We are filled with purpose but surrounded by pressures that feel crushing.

If you’ve ever felt out of place, out of strength, or out of options—you are exactly the kind of person Peter is writing to

What Is the Goal of Your Life?

Let’s pause and ask the question honestly:

What goal is shaping your life?

What or whom are you really pursuing?

Does what you say your goal is actually match your actions?

We all have moments where our goals get misaligned. It happens subtly:

• We chase success and forget surrender.
• We pursue security and forget faithfulness.
• We seek comfort and forget holiness.
• We cling to people and forget the One who holds them.

And often, it’s not until life shakes us that we realize our hope has quietly settled into something fragile—something earthly, something easily taken.

Peter wants to re-anchor us before life hits us sideways.

He wants us to remember our hope is not empty. Our purpose is not temporary.

The Christian Life Has One Goal

Peter is clear: the Christian life is built on one unshakeable goal:

Living for the glory of God by His grace.

We exist for the glory of God.

We breathe for the glory of God.

We speak, serve, give, endure, and rejoice for the glory of God.

This is not a burden; it is a calling that fills every moment with meaning. When our purpose becomes His glory, nothing is wasted—not our prayers, not our pain, not our waiting, and not our worship.

We find joy in praying, serving, and sharing Christ—

not because life is easy but because He is worthy.

When Life Is Good… and When It Isn’t

Let’s be honest—it’s easy to say “I’m living for the glory of God” when life is smooth.

When the marriage is healthy.

When the kids are doing well.

When the bills are paid.

When the diagnosis is clean.

When the job is stable.

When the friend group is supportive.

When everything feels normal, peaceful, steady.

But what about when it isn’t?

What about when the doctor calls?

When the relationship breaks?

When the child walks away from God?

When the bank account drops?

When the depression returns?

When betrayal stings?

When loneliness lingers?

When abuse wounds?

When grief suffocates?

When anxiety steals sleep?

When you feel like an exile in your own story?

It’s in those moments that Peter’s words cut straight to the heart:

“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.” (1 Peter 1:6)

We don’t rejoice because of the trial,

but we can rejoice in the trial.

Not because suffering feels good, but because suffering has a purpose that is bigger than the pain.

What If Your Trial Has a Goal?

Most of us want one thing in crisis: escape.

We want the problem solved, the pain gone, the conflict resolved, the burden lifted.

But Peter asks us to consider a different angle:

What if your trial has a goal?

What if your suffering is doing something eternal?

What if the fire in your life right now is refining your faith?

“In all this you greatly rejoice…

These trials have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith…

may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

(1 Peter 1:6–7)

What if the very thing you’re begging God to remove

is the thing He is using to reveal His glory in you?

The Silversmith

There’s a story—whether legend or fact, the lesson stands.

A woman once watched a silversmith refine silver. He heated it until impurities rose to the surface. The silver churned violently in the flames.

“How do you know when it’s ready?” she asked.

He answered, “When I can see my reflection in it.”

Peter says the same thing about suffering.

The fire is not for destruction but for reflection.

God purifies your faith until His image becomes clearer in you.

Our trials burn away the self-reliance we cling to so tightly.

They strip away the illusions of control.

They expose idols we didn’t know we were worshiping.

They reveal what we truly trust.

And through them, God shapes us into people who look more like Christ.

This is not punishment.

This is not abandonment.

This is not failure.

This is grace.

Refining grace.

A Living Hope (1 Peter 1:3)

Peter anchors everything with one truth:

We have a living hope.

Not an idea.

Not a wish.

Not a phrase for wall art.

A living, breathing, resurrected Savior whose life guarantees ours.

“Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.”

This isn’t just a lyric.

It’s the foundation of the Christian life.

Your hope is not in your circumstances.

Your hope is not in your strength.

Your hope is not in your ability to get through the trial.

Your hope is in Jesus Christ, who conquered death and is alive right now.

Because He lives, your suffering is never the end.

Because He lives, your story cannot be undone by tragedy.

Because He lives, your faith is never wasted.

Because He lives, God’s grace is always enough.

God’s Grace Is Not Passive — It’s Present and Active

God’s grace doesn’t sit quietly in the corner of your difficulty.

It steps into the center of your situation and holds you together.

Grace strengthens.

Grace carries.

Grace transforms.

Grace sustains.

Grace protects.

Grace empowers obedience.

Grace enables endurance.

Grace makes holiness possible.

Grace makes hope real.

We often say, “I can’t handle this.”

And God whispers back, “I never asked you to.”

Grace is not God’s backup plan.

Grace is the oxygen of the Christian life.

Grace makes bold living possible—even when suffering makes it hard.

The Tree in the Wind

Consider a tree planted on a hillside where harsh winds constantly blow.

At first glance, you might think the wind weakens it.

But the opposite is true.

The continual resistance forces the tree’s roots to grow deeper, wider, stronger.

The wind doesn’t destroy the tree—it defines it.

It pushes the tree to become what it could never be in calm weather.

Your suffering is strengthening your spiritual roots.

Your faith is growing deeper, wider, stronger.

The wind is not evidence that God has abandoned you.

It may be evidence that He is grounding you.

What If the Goal Is Faithfulness, Not Comfort?

One of the hardest truths in 1 Peter is this:

God’s goal for your life is not comfort—it is faithfulness.

Comfort is a wonderful gift.

But faithfulness is a holy calling.

God will allow what He hates

to accomplish what He loves.

He hates suffering; He loves transformation.

He hates pain; He loves purity.

He hates brokenness; He loves Christlikeness.

So He uses the temporary to shape the eternal.

He uses the momentary to form the lasting.

He uses the painful to produce the glorious.

This is a perspective we only get when our lives are fixed on the glory of God, not the comfort of the moment.

What or Whom Are You Living For?

Take a breath.

Reflect honestly.

Who or what are you living for today?

Your job?

Your children?

Your dream future?

Your reputation?

Your comfort?

Your ministry?

Your approval from others?

Your sense of control?

Your own peace of mind?

Those things can be good.

But they cannot be God.

They cannot carry the weight of your soul.

They cannot sustain you in suffering.

They cannot anchor your hope.

They cannot purify your faith.

They cannot produce eternal glory.

Only Christ can.

Peter calls us—strongly, boldly, lovingly—to live lives shaped entirely by the glory of God.

Live Bold. Live Set-Apart. Live for God.

1 Peter 1:13 says:

“Prepare your minds for action; be sober-minded; set your hope fully on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

This is the posture of a believer who knows their purpose.

This is the mindset of someone who lives for His glory by His grace.

So today, choose boldly.

• Set your hope—not halfway—but fully on Christ.
• Refuse to let shame write your story.
• Refuse to let pain define your identity.
• Refuse to let fear control your obedience.
• Refuse to let suffering silence your praise.
• Refuse to live for earthly goals that cannot last.

Live bold.

Live set-apart.

Live for God’s glory.

Live by His grace.

Live anchored in a hope that suffering cannot touch.

Live with a faith being refined like gold.

Live proclaiming the worth of the One who rescued you.

Because you were made for this.

You were redeemed for this.

You were empowered for this.

A Closing Challenge

Today—before the next task, before the next worry, before the next wave of emotion—ask yourself:

Who or what does my life bring glory to?

Not what I say, but what my life shows.

What story does my schedule tell?

What story does my attitude tell?

What story do my choices tell?

What story does my suffering tell?

God is calling you to live for Him—boldly, joyfully, faithfully, purposefully—

in the ease and in the agony,

in the joys and in the trials,

in the calm and in the storm,

in the ordinary and in the unthinkable.

Because when you live for His glory by His grace,

your life becomes a testimony that cannot be silenced.

Your faith becomes gold refined in fire.

Your hope becomes a light in darkness.

Your story becomes a reflection of Christ.

So live bold.

Live set-apart.

Live for His glory, by His grace.