Tests

So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, 

even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. 

 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. 

It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—

though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. 

So when your faith remains strong through many trials,

 it will bring you much praise and glory and honor

 on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. 

1 Peter 1:6-7 (NLT)

The most precious thing we have is our faith.  God tests us not to see how we will live or what we will do, but to prove our faith.

Those of us living today in relatively secure affluence don’t face the same kinds of severe life-threatening trials that Christians have faced in many times and places throughout history.  We face tests of a different kind.  

Our modern struggles involve our own self-centeredness, perhaps being overtaken with resentments or fears or falling into complacency to name just a few.  My severest tests come from my own sense of weakness and failure to be the kind of person I think God would want me to be.  In the face of these tests, the temptation comes to focus on myself, to think that if I just try harder things will change.  This strategy always ends in discouragement and despair.

In the face of trials, instead of responding with self-effort or self condemnation, God is looking for our simple faith.  He is not impressed when I agonize over my failures or promise him that I will do better next time. What he is looking for is childlike trust. Can I trust him that he understands the struggles I go through and that he has the power to transform me?  Can I wait on him and trust him even when I feel so out of it? Can I trust him to make my life significant, and to fulfill the plans he has for me?  

When all the people saw the things Jesus did, they wanted to do the same thing.  Jesus said it clearly, "The only thing God wants from you is that you would believe in me." (John 6:29).  We have no idea the power released as we believe in him moment by moment.  Even when we feel our faith is weak, it is still powerful because it connects us to the Powerful One.  Let us remember, when we think we need to try harder or are ready to give up in despair, to activate our faith. 

Lord, I believe that you have all the resources necessary to change me.  Help me not to dwell on myself, but to activate my faith muscle and put all of my trust in you.  I know I will be able to accomplish so much more and with such a better attitude when my eyes are on you.

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me.

 Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.

 But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

John 16:33 (NLT)