The joy of trusting
So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 1 Peter 1:6-9
It is not that the Lord wants us to be naïve about faith for our faith is not founded upon hearsay or fictional story but about the truth as presented from the Word of God. In fact, the apostle Peter attested to the truth of the Scripture for he himself was an eyewitness of the coming of our Lord Jesus. “For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw his majestic splendor with our own eyes when he received honor and glory from God the Father. The voice from the majestic glory of God said to him, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.” We ourselves heard that voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain” (2 Peter 2:16-18). Today, we have more solid evidences; more even than what the disciples had. This is why there is no excuse; we must believe. This is what Peter was alluding to from the text. We are blessed to place our faith in God and to express our love to Him though we have never seen Him. This was also what Jesus told Thomas after the resurrection. He honored Thomas’ request in spite of the testimonies of the other disciples that the tomb was empty and that He already appeared to some of them in their previous encounter after the resurrection. Consequently, God rebuked Thomas of His doubts and commended those that trusted Christ despite the fact that they have not seen Him. “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me” (John 20:29). We cannot see Him yet with our eyes as Thomas did, but we can believe Him now in our hearts. This is the essence of faith and with this faith it provides us a sure hope of what is about to come. “We were given this hope when we were saved. If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently” (Romans 8:24-25). The faith we have in Christ helps us to choose to love and trust Him. And as Peter said, our trust in Him though we do not see Him yet results to “a glorious, inexpressible joy.” Abiding joy comes to those whose trust is anchored in Christ for they know that one day they will see Him.
Blessings,
Noel De Guzman www.my-wbc.com
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