Dear friends, when the fiery ordeal arises among you to test you, don’t be surprised by it, as if something unusual were happening to you. Instead, as you share in the sufferings of the Messiah rejoice, so that you may also rejoice with great joy at the revelation of His glory. If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. None of you, however, should suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a meddler. But if [anyone suffers] as a Christian, he should not be ashamed, but should glorify God with that name. For the time has come for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God?

And if the righteous is saved with difficulty, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?

So those who suffer according to God’s will should, in doing good, entrust themselves to a faithful Creator.

1 Peter 4:12 – 19