Day 214

Trials prove your faith 

Key Verses: 1, 4, 12, 15-16, 19, 23

Chosen by the Spirit’s work to be obedient and set apart: this is the label placed on the identity of those who were to receive this letter. It is a pretty good label for us as well. At least it should match us. We are chosen for a purpose: our lives should reflect His character.

We hear stories of parents who set their children up for certain careers and then those children choose to do something very different. Their parents choose doctor or lawyer, but the child chooses art or social work with the poor. The parent wants them to follow in their footsteps, but the child wants to forge their own path, one that is very different from their parents. Movies have been made on this theme.

God has chosen us, and we have responded to that choice. We must choose to obey and allow His Spirit to work on us, cleansing us so that our actions match our new identity. When that happens we participate in a new inheritance that is a permanent inheritance. It is as though we win the lottery, a lottery that has an unlimited supply of money. The question is, what will we do with this inheritance?

One of the struggles of faith is that we don’t “see” the object of our faith. Science reinforces the notion that if we can’t “see” it, measure it, explain it origin from other natural causes, then it doesn’t exist. What a limiting concept! Love is more than synaptic firings and hormone releases. When trials come we have the opportunity to call out to the Lord and receive and answer. When the Holy Spirit brings comfort, strength, encouragement, and peace in the middle of a trial, we get to experience God’s love in that moment. Something that can’t be explained as the result of wishful thinking or positive intention invades our inner being. We “see” God.

The readers were the recipients of blessings that previous generations had seen from a distant through the eyes of faith. The Old Testament prophets were told of the glory of what was coming, but they didn’t get to experience it fully for themselves. They saw the grace fulfilled in Christ, and the promise of the Holy Spirit resident in the faithful, but they understood from afar and experienced His presence only momentarily.

And because of this extra blessing in our lives, we have a greater responsibility to live it out. Because we have the riches of Christ we need to honor His presence with lives of holy living. His very life paid for our acceptance. Like those on the field at Gettysburg, Jesus gave the last full measure of devotion. He laid down His life for you.

His life for your life; I think we received the better end of the deal. His life was imperishable, and yet He perished. His physical life ended for three days. Our physical life will end. The Word of God that saves us never dies. We have placed our trust in what He has said. That trust will not be forgotten. He won’t let us down.