October 6, 2016 – I Peter 1:8

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. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls. I Peter 1:8-9All around, I see trials and temptations of bad things all around me.  How can there be any joy?  How can there be so much hurt and concern in the world?  Is this all there is? It all begins with a scraped knee.  Remember that first pain?  With God pain doesn’t last, it heals.When we grow up, it isn’t always a physical hurt, but a heart-hurt.  When we focus on the hurt, we are invited to a ‘poor-me’ party.  Self-pity is not the band-aide that heals.  To heal, we leave the pity party and realize healing comes only from loving God and remembering the priceless inheritance waiting for us in heaven.  The pain and hurt is to remind us of the joy ahead and that just as pain of the scraped knee left, so do heart-hurts.  It all comes to faith – believing that God IS and a focused attention to eternity.  Knowing that trials and hurts simply test and purify us for our future inheritance.So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials (hurts) 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.  I Peter 1:6-7