1 Peter, Week 1

For the next nine weeks, I'll be participating in a different sort of book review tour. It is a tour that blogs through a Bible study along with about thirty other bloggers. My purpose for sharing it with you, my readers, is two-fold. First, you know how much I love to share what I'm learning from Scripture! So, I'm excited to have this natural forum to share what I'm learning from this Bible study. Second, I hope to be able to share enough information about this specific Bible study to let you know whether or not it is something that would benefit you. So, welcome to this journey through 1 Peter.

First, a little bit about the study. 1 Peter: Finding Encouragement in Troubled Times is an inductive Bible study by Sue Edwards. The single workbook includes three levels of study intensity and a leader's guide, making it a very versatile workbook. Each of the nine lessons is divided into four to six “cores” of questions. The core questions comprise the most basic level of intensity for the Bible study. The total time investment per week amounts to about an hour and a half, with each individual core requiring (of me, anyway) anywhere from five to twenty minutes of study time. Scattered throughout each lesson (but not in every core) are two levels of deeper questions for a more intense study. Closing out each week's lesson is a “Living Stone Story,” an example of a fellow sister in Christ who has found strength and encouragement in the midst of difficult times.

As I blog through the study each week, I will both provide some practical review information about the study itself and share something from that week's lesson that impacted me. Because I am studying to teach classes at church and am maintaining a Scripture reading/devotional schedule with my family as I go through this study, I'll be focusing only on the core questions each week.

For week one, we focused on the first twelve verses of 1 Peter 1. One of the last questions for the week asked whether or not I had learned anything new. In all honesty, I didn't. But, that does not by any stretch of the imagination indicate that the week's study was a waste of my time. The beauty of an inductive Bible study is that it forces us to slow down. To take God's Word a few verses at a time – or even a phrase at a time! – and really listen to what the Holy Spirit is teaching us through it. It has been a while since I have read slowly and intentionally through 1 Peter.

In two different cores from lesson one, we were encouraged to interact deeply with other passages of Scripture that heightened the reading of the first verses of 1 Peter. One such set of passages was the denial and reinstatement of Peter surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus. We were to contemplate how that series of events in Peter's life prepared him to write about trials in 1 Peter. Immersing myself in the story, I realized that Peter had already discovered how horrible it was to deny Christ. What trial could ever be worse? What encouragement to endure trials faithfully could ever be stronger?  

Ultimately, lesson one restored a sense of perspective for me. First of all, living the Christian life is relatively easy for me. I am not persecuted. I am not challenged. True, I may be made fun of. I might be criticized. Some friends hint that because I'm a Christian I am too easily offended by the things they love. Others frequently indicate that they feel judged, if not by me, then at least by my faith as a whole. But I am not truly persecuted.

Meanwhile, as I look back over trials in my life, I realize just how small they have been. They seemed so big at the time, but looking back on them in light of the persecution that believers from the first century on through modern day have endured, I was reminded to view them in light of eternity. It was a freeing reminder, to say the least.

Next week we will dive into what God calls us to do in this Christian walk and what strength He provides to do it! I hope you'll join me again!

This study was sent to me by Kregel Publications in exchange for my participation in this graduated blog tour. I am not required to respond positively to the study.