What Trials Show About Your Faith

What Trials Show About Your Faith
By Colin Smith

"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... may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." 1 Peter 1:6,7 (NIV) If you have something that might be of great value, you want to know if it is authentic, and you will seize any opportunity to prove it. This is why the Antiques Road Show has been such an outstanding success. The experts arrive in a city and people bring their antiques. They have one question: "What is this worth?" And they seize the opportunity to find out. "I think this might be a Ming vase. Could you tell me if it is authentic?" Your faith is of far more value than a Ming vase or a Rembrandt painting. Your faith is "of greater worth than gold." (v6) Gold, like every other created thing, will eventually perish. But your faith, if it's genuine, will last for eternity. The question is: How do you know that it is genuine? How do you know that it is not a passing phase? Peter tells us "When you suffer grief in all kinds of trials..."
1 Peter 1:6 (NIV) When you suffer you will have all the evidence you need that your faith is authentic. Here's why: If your faith were just a human decision or a passing phase, then as soon as you began to suffer, you would renounce your faith. You would turn away from God and spend the rest of your life saying, "I can no longer believe in God." Or you would smolder away in bitterness and resentment against Him. You must know people like that. The big question is: "Why isn't everybody like that?" Why is it that there are people hearing this who struggle with unanswered questions, disappointed hopes and dreams, lost loved ones and lost jobs, have suffered illness, or violence or some other personal catastrophe... and yet they still believe! They still love Christ! There's only one explanation"These have come so that your faith... may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." 1 Peter 1:7 (NIV) "Your faith is a miracle! It is a living seed of the life of God planted in you. It is like a bulb in the ground that is buried in the dirt, but it does not die! You have gone through all these trials. You have faced all these unanswered questions. You cannot see Him and you cannot work out what He is doing. Yet, "You love Him. You believe in Him." (v8) There can be no greater evidence of the authenticity of your faith than that. And just so you know, that faith which has been proved genuine will result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. One day He is going to wipe every tear from your eyes, and you will hear His voice saying to you: "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into your Master's happiness."