Peter writes this letter as an encouragement to the churches of Asia Minor. Essentially he is saying that no matter how bad things get in this life, you have a heavenly Father waiting to receive you home in the next. We know this because Christ faced the heat of this world and was welcomed home, and one day so will we. So, Christians should live righteously and courageously today in anticipation of that day. It is this eternal perspective that gives us relief in the midst of the heat.