Trials Ahead (1 Peter 1:7-9)

 These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure.  It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold---and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold.  So if your faith remains strong after  being tried by fiery 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, you trust him; now you are happy with a glorious, inexpressible joy.  Your reward for trusting him will be the salvation of you souls.

Trials Ahead: Now this sign comes up on the road, what do you do? Panic? Lose control of the vehicle? No, you look at it and decide who should be driving! Well Jesus, your turn to take the wheels.  You look at it with the right perspective.  He is bigger than any of those trials coming up.  You can no longer view trials through the eyes of fear, but the eyes of faith since it is your faith that is being tried.  Gold is precious to you right?  Well, if your faith is not as precious to you as God sees it.  Your trials will look a lot different depending on how you look at your faith.  Faith is more precious to God than gold itself.  If then, God looks at your faith being so precious, why don't you too?  One thing for us to all consider is; why is our faith considered so precious?  The answer could be because of what it costs God, but the answer is coming next...It allows us to trust God.  It allows us to do the impossible for him.  But the prerequisite for faith is that it has to remain strong in order to work.  Before Jesus Christ comes back, will he find faith on the earth?

In verse 7, we are definitely praised as having kept a strong faith.    In verse 8 and 9, for loving him and not seeing him and may I add being ridiculed for being so 'foolish'.  Whom we do not see, we go as far as trusting him.  Really? in the eyes of the world that's utter foolishness and yet we are willing to go down that low.  Yet, we are highly esteemed by God because of the faith we keep strong until he comes back to take us.  We are going to go through that fire of trials like Daniel's three friends and come out whole and untouched.  Peter even says that our reward for trusting him will be the salvation of our souls.

And what a salvation!

Tomorrow. we will look at that salvation.  Don't miss it!