Word by Mail

1Pet 1:3-9: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. ” (ESV)

 

By God’s grace, we have been born again to a LIVING hope (a hope that never dies), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It was by Him conquering sin & death on our behalf that we have this living hope. By faith in Christ we’ve been born again to an inheritance in heaven that will never fade away. It’s reserved for us there. It’s guaranteed & already set aside for us. And while our inheritance is reserved for us there, we are being guarded here, by the power of God, thru our faith, for the completion of our salvation that will be revealed when it’s time.

 

So we can rejoice in our solid guarantees in Christ. We can have rock solid hope, even if we are grieved by various trials for a time in this life. It’s in these trials that the genuineness of our faith is developed & matured. The difficulty of the trial is actually what refines our faith. It’s not that God is ‘testing’ us like in school, it’s that He’s ‘refining’ us like a jeweler refines gold. Gold is refined in the fire, and our faith, eternally more valuable than gold, is refined by the trials we go through.

 

The ultimate purpose is that our faith will bring praise, honor, and glory to Jesus Christ when He is revealed. That’s exactly what the genuineness of our faith in the midst of trials is doing, bringing glory to God.

 

So now, because of the genuineness of your faith, you can rejoice with a joy that cannot even be fully expressed. And that joy, that comes through your faith, is full of God’s glory. The end result of which, is the full, indescribable, salvation of your soul. Praise The Lord.