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“the genuineness of your faith” (1 Peter 1:7, NKJV)
I remember watching westerns when I was growing up. One of those memories involved a potential buyer biting down onto a gold piece to test its authenticity. I suppose since pure gold is a soft metal, the bite would leave an impression.
God designs the trials of our lives to test the mettle of our faith. Peter speaks of our being grieved by various trials. This grief is a bedfellow with joy in our earthly pilgrimage. The struggles and adversity we face cause us to suffer but we are comforted knowing that those trials are temporary and that we will one day enter the glory our Lord Jesus has prepared for us.
Those trials, however, carry the purpose of our Father, right here, right now. Those afflictions prove our faith. They are the teeth that dig into us that show the authenticity of our faith. Peter explains God’s purpose in the grief of our trials: “that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:7).
In his Gospel account, Peter’s disciple, John Mark, recorded a parable taught by our Lord Jesus in which four soils are described. The gospel is the seed scattered on the soils. The seed reacts to the good soil by bearing fruit. Two of the soils, however, receive the gospel and, while there seems to be life because growth appears, no fruit is produced.
Faith is a fruit of the implanted word of God. Trials act to authenticate that faith as a product of the grace of God. One reason the gospel sown in Jesus’s parable was barren of fruit was because of the rise of tribulation and persecution (Mark 4:17).
Trials test the genuineness of faith. Authentic faith will persevere and bring glory to God.
REFLECTION: True faith reflects God’s handiwork of grace. Ask God to expose your heart.
Unless noted otherwise, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, copyright ©1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.