Persecution purifies the Church --- under threat of loss or death the pretenders leave so that only pure gold remains. Those who remain are God’s chosen ones.
These are the ones who will enter His kingdom.

I would suggest that you who read this take the time --- right now --- to read all of 1 Peter.

Primitive Church - not quite

In today's world with all of our so called superior knowledge we are in the habit of calling the first century Church primitive.
They were far from primitive. They were closer to Jesus than we are today because they were unencumbered by all the corruptive trappings and man made add-ons that infiltrated the Church at a later date.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:24, "No one can serve two masters.
And yet in today's Church many Christians try to.

We are overly involved in sports, politics, television entertainment, and all kinds of worldly pursuits, mainly money.

The first Christians rejected the worlds entertainment, honors, and riches. They were citizens of God's heavenly kingdom. And as such they thought and acted accordingly.

If we are truly born again, washed in the blood of our Savior shouldn't we instead be carrying out the command to proclaim the gospel? They did.

Look Beyond Self

Today’s church in America wants to be raptured from suffering and responsibility while other Christians all over the world are suffering.
Are we afraid to suffer for Christ as He suffered for us.

Read:
James 5:7-:11
1 Peter 4:12-:19
2 Timothy 3:12