Love, Faith, Joy

“And though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.”  1 Peter 1:8-9

Peter had seen the Lord, but he was writing to those who hadn’t, including us. Like them we can have a personal relationship with the Lord, even though we haven’t physically seen Him. “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” (John 20:29). Also, like them, we can have terrible trials (1 Pet. 1:7). Their responses to Christ while in the midst of trials, as given in our text, are likewise appropriate for us.

They loved Him. Love many times makes a trial bearable. “We love, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (Rom. 8:35). He loves us too much to abandon us, and we love Him in return.

They believed. “The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, Because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3). “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord. For he will be like a tree planted by the water...” (Jer. 17:7-8). Our faith is well founded.

They rejoiced. “But to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation” (1 Peter 4:13). The proper response to trials brings inexpressible joy.

The end of such faith as explained in our text is the complete and ultimate salvation of our souls with many victories of faith along the way.