“so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than
gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in
praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;” (1 Peter 1:7,
NASB95)
We may not know why any particular trial comes our way. We
may not know why this person dies of cancer and another does not. We may not
know why one loses a job and another doesn’t. There is so much that we don’t
know and may not come to know. But what we do know is that God is not evil and
He does not promote evil. We also know that He is sovereign and in total
control with His strong hand on every single one of us. And, we know that for
this season we live in fallen bodies in a fallen world where Satan and his
cohorts are allowed by God to reign. But even in this we know that God even
holds the reigns over the evil one and those who belong to him. These are some
hard things to reconcile, and we may not really be able to fully do so other
than to recognize the greater truth that God created everything very good, and
that man and Satan rebelled bringing in death and destruction. God reached into
this death and destruction with His perfect plan to send His only Son to give
Himself as a living sacrifice for our sins and to restore us to life in Him. We
know that for a season sin is prevalent and that it will get worse before His Son
comes again. But one day God will put an end to it all. Sin will be abolished.
The devil and his cohorts will be cast away forever along with all who have
rejected God and His salvation, and those whose names are found in the Lamb’s
Book of Life will live eternally in His presence.
Sure, the Bible gives us more detail than this, and there is
much more we can learn about the nature of evil and the character of our God as
we study His Word. But the big picture reality is pretty simple. God is perfect
and He demands perfection. We are not perfect and are incapable of perfection.
Only in His Son are we made perfectly righteous because He personally credits
His righteousness to us at the moment of our salvation and the Spirit
cooperates with us as we grow in righteousness until such time that we step
into His perfect presence, perfectly perfected in all ways for all of eternity.
And, what is the proof that keeps us going? It is that God’s
Spirit is indeed working in us through faith to make us more and more like
Christ every day. The proof that we belong to God is the work of God in us. We
change because we have been changed. We grow because we have been made alive.
This is what a plant does. The seed is germinated and then it grows. The big
difference is that unlike the flower that fades, we are made to never fade.
The picture we have here is of the refining process. Robin
and I have been married over thirty-six years. We gave each other rings on the
day we were married. My wedding ring was lost in the Northridge earthquake, and
several years later we replaced it. But as I look at even the replacement gold
ring on my finger right now, it still shines. It is recognizable as gold,
unlike many pennies or dimes that I’ve seen that have become so tarnished that
I had difficulty distinguishing between the two and their subsequent worth. My
wedding ring was made of refined gold and it has a level of purity to it that
allows it to keep its value and recognized status. At one point in time raw
gold and other minerals were removed from the ground and the gold was separated
from them. It was further heated to remove additional impurities, and then when
it was made to the right degree of purity it was put through the process of
turning it into a marker on my finger of a covenant made year ago.
God’s work in our lives is that marker on our lives that
reminds us of the certainty of the promise made to us, and unlike my first ring
God’s promise will never be lost or forgotten. It is not up to me to keep it on
my finger at all times. It is up to Him. In Christ I have been sealed and made
inseparable. But at the same time, God does expect me to live according to who
I am. Wearing a wedding ring is not all there is to being married, and being
sealed in Christ is not all there is to being a Christian. We are called to
live lives by faith, seeking after God, growing in our knowledge of His Word as
we hide it in our lives, and living in obedience to what we learn and according
to how we are led in response to those truths. The incredible thing is that
this is not an effort we do on our own, but it is one that His Spirit enables
us to do and it is through that very enablement that God proves just how saved
we are.
We were told in verse 6 to rejoice knowing distress. Here we
are told that the entirety of our lives is proof of His love and faithfulness ant
that it is to result even greater praise and glory when we see our Lord. I love
the ending verses of chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians where we read, “For now we see
in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will
know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love,
abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:12–13,
NASB95)
For the time being we get the opportunity to taste and see
just how good our God is, but we still have to trust because we have not yet
reached the end and seen in full. Now we have to hope having promises shown to
us through our lives, but the fullness of those promises is yet to be
disclosed. And now we get to know the love of God poured out on us amidst the
sorrow of the world, but one day we will get to know the fullness of God’s love
with great rejoicing and praise as the glory of God is revealed face to face.
We read that now abide faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is
love. Think of it, when we are there, there will be no more reason to trust because
faith will be proven in His presence. When we are there, there will be no more
reason to hope because we will see hope fully realized. And, what we know of
love now, imagine how much more we will realize the extent of His love and that
of His Son—our Lord Jesus Christ when we meet them once and fully forever.
This promise is truly more precious than gold. Gold may buy
us a lot now, but Jesus bought us eternity and He is working in us right now
proving just how real His purchase really is.
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