Self-denying
Read 1 Peter 4.1-6
“.. since Christ suffered in the body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude ..” (1 Pet.4.1)
The cross re-configures the believer’s life. As Christ did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made Himself nothing (Phil.2.5-11), so the believer now lives ‘for the will of God’. You’re under new management: you’ve broken with sin.
To a self-indulgent culture, the self-denial inherent in the submissiveness of a believer seems ‘strange’: in what ways are you aware of ‘abuse’ being heaped upon believers today (v.4)?
In what sense is the person who has suffered in the body ‘done with sin’?
Prayer: You have granted to us, Your people, Lord – You have granted to us the cross, with all its shame and with all its grace. Help me gladly to take up my cross today.