Sunday, August 10, 2008

1 Peter 1:7-9

"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls."
1 Peter 1:7-9


This scripture struck me a few days ago, reading it in a hotel room while I was waiting for my stuff to get here to New York.  It's been harder to adjust that I thought it would be, and I was looking for something... I think God and I thought this was the right thing to do before I came, but it has been hard to recapture that feeling. ... Anyway, so I opened up the scriptures to this... and talking about the trial of your faith being more precious than gold got me thinking.  Yeah... it would be really nice to be back in my comfort zone, but if you think about it... how else do we learn some of the big lessons but by getting OUT of our comfort zones?  You can't learn to do new things without a little bit of discomfort and risk. ... And even when the trial is huge... one of the "tried with fire" ones... that just means you can handle, and therefore learn, a lot more. ... Or so it seems. :)  It doesn't immediately solve anything.  Not being able to get my home computer up is still frustrating, and not having a car and an easy way to get to and from stores, etc. is hard to get used to, but it's just like the scripture says.  It is more precious than gold in the same way we believe in Christ.  We haven't seen him, but we still have faith that he is there, and rejoice in that belief. ... We don't have to see exactly where every trial is heading beforehand to know that we'll learn something great, and be stronger and more refined afterward. :)  And the huge part is at the end... the end of our faith is the salvation of our souls. ... Now, my example is sort of wimpy.  I don't think that going without a car (poor me) is going to lead to my salvation. :) ... But you get the idea in general.  Trials are precious to us because they are the impetus to learning and change that we need in order to grow and change and eventually get to salvation.  Agreed... safer and easier to stay within the comfort zone, but that's why we need trials.  To wake us up and help us learn new things.  Let's try to remember how precious they are to us, even while we're in the middle of them. :)

No comments:

Post a Comment