Just a little something to think about in relation to my previous post...
1 Peter 1:3-9
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade -- kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith -- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire -- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls."
This is one of my favorite passages in God's word, yet I honestly didn't see the connection of it with my questions about suffering until yesterday. I have read and re-read these few sentences over and over for many years. It has to be one of the most densely packed statements ever written. The words were written by Peter to all followers of Jesus at the time, who he referred to in verse 1 as "strangers in the world". And he is pleading with them to grasp the truth that our position as strangers in the world should not be reason for despair but for great and lasting hope. He is not discounting the fact that suffering and grief are real. He is acknowledging the difficulty of this life and in the same breath proclaiming the importance of faith. It's true, we can't see Jesus, and niether could these early believers. The bottom line is that our faith is what will last, not because we are earning something through our faith. Our faith is crucial because it the vehicle through which we receive the salvation of our souls.
1 comment:
I could always count on you to wrestle with Truth. thanks for the glimpse into the thinking - keep pushing and asking and praying and searching for the declarations of our faith.
Romans 5 comes to mind from a sermon from yesterday....it speaks with to the issue as well - not to answer how it must grieve God to watch people in pain- a result not necessarily of their sin but of original sin and our nature that bears the sin - "Therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so but we also rejoice inour sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character; and character hope. And hope does ot disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us. You see at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly......But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us....
though I don't live with chronic pain or suffering as many in the world do without a doubt, my sweetest times with God have come from pain of some type in my life. The hope or certainty of the hope of glory does not disappoint... wrestle on girl...and by the way you communicated just fine for me to understand what you were thinking through.....
JUlie T
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