Wednesday, December 3, 2014

What is the value of a trial of faith?


6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
7 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: (1 Peter 1:6-7)

These verses really resonated with me recently.

Trials of faith are really uncomfortable at times, so it is startling and encouraging to find Peter’s perspective that they are more precious than gold. 

I have to really wonder where Peter gained this perspective.  How did he learn to appreciate the worth of his trials of faith?  Was it from his associations with Christ?  Was it from experiences with persecution after Christ’s resurrection? 

I think this tells us something about Peter’s inner life, that he pondered on the things that he went through and that he could see ways that his trials of faith had yielded some good things that he considered so valuable that he wouldn’t ever have wanted to exchange for any amount of money.

You also see hints in this scripture that Peter had an impression that some trials of our faith may not receive the full praise and honor and glory they deserve until Christ comes.

What trials of your faith do you consider more precious than gold?  

One of mine is my testimony of paying tithing that I gained the summer before my second year of college.  The blessings from that experience went far beyond my financial concerns of that school year and continue today (and I don't just mean my continued commitment to paying tithing).

I have a number of trials of faith I am going through right now that have lasted a very long time and previous testimonies I have received have kept me going.

What about you?

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