Letting Judgment Start in God’s House

“If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:15-17, AMP)

Who read today’s key verse and made a double-take when Peter said, “For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household?” Maybe that’s something that catches us off guard– that God would commence His judgment starting in His household, that is the family of God.

But how many times do we pray a prayer that sounds like this: “Lord, let your move start with me. Let your change start with me. Let your kingdom come through me.” The truth is, a lot of the time, we ask God to start with us. If His kingdom is to be built on this earth, we want to be in on the ground floor. If He is going to shake things up and let His Holy Spirit move on earth, we want to ride that wave and experience it.

So the real question is, why do we think we have that sort of access to God’s move and yet we shrink away from His judgment and trial that is meant to make us pure and prepared for it? Why do we feel so entitled as to expect God to use us as instruments of His will, and yet think we are exempt from His training? 

That’s not to say that we must earn His grace. We earn that without merit when we give our lives to Him. But in walking out our faith, there are things that God has to refine in us. And as it says in 1 Peter 1:6-7, the testing and trials of our faith is to strengthen our belief and trust in the Lord. The suffering of those tests burn us the way fire refines gold, by burning away the impurities so that only the precious, uncontaminated metal is left which not only makes it more precious, but also more resilient.

So God’s judgment isn’t just for the sake of suffering by the hand of an all-powerful God. When Peter suggests that God’s judgment starts within His own house– which pertains to those who belong to Him and follow Him– it doesn’t mean that Peter is some sort of masochist looking to lean into the judgments of God that require life-transformation. 

It means that when we suffer for the sake of Christ and when God chooses to test our faith, it’s not because we are a murderer, or a criminal, or even a petty meddler. The things we reap from that judgment are not the wages of sin. They are the refinement of the righteous. When we suffer for our Christianity, we can stand unashamed and confident in the fact that we bear Jesus’ name. We can be certain that His grace is all over us.

Most certainly, we as Christians are judged, tried, and refined on earth. We go through a difficult process of becoming more like Jesus. And even still, when all that is happening, we still have hope. We still know that the best of everything is yet to come. We still have the peace and joy that comes from belonging to God and being a member of His house. 

That very same fire that refines us and purifies our souls to better serve the Lord, is the fire that burns up those that have chosen to not partake in His grace. That fire is unavoidable. If it doesn’t refine you here on earth, it will consume you in eternity. So really, what good is it to try and put off God’s judgment here on earth? At least here, there is an opportunity to be redeemed. If we all must walk through it, then what is there for those that rejected the gospel? 

The truth is, there is nothing but perpetual suffering. There is nothing but the burning of that fire that was available for refinement in this life. But in eternity, it will only judge.

For us, we build our hope in the Lord. We live in anticipation that though we may live through our worst days, our most precious and desired ones wait for us after this life. But for those who don’t have God? The best they will ever have is whatever joy they can find on this earth, and the sad thing is, they will never know the joy that is to come and could have been. Our suffering is now; theirs is to come. Our joy is built up in heaven; theirs is whatever they can make here, and will feel like a counterfeit compared to joy in Christ.

So if we suffer here on earth because of the Christ within us, we should do so with endurance. That suffering and judgment serves a purpose rather than a punishment.

Let God’s judgment show you where He wants to work within you. Let His righteous conviction humbly transform you into a Christian whose faith cannot be shaken or dimmed. And let that transformation serve as a living testimony to others of who God is, and His power here on earth and in Heaven to come.