Today’s Daily Lesson comes from 1 Peter chapter 1 verses through 7:
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,5who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, 7so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Faith has to be tried in order to be found true. The journey through the wilderness is not happenstance in our lives. It is necessary that character might be formed and revealed. Pure gold has to bear the heat of the refiners fire.
This means that struggle and even suffering are not optional in life. They cannot be altogether avoided. If they are avoided, then we can be assured that our faith has become dull and complacent.
Through struggle and testing it is the glory of God that is revealed in us (Romans 8:18). This is the Christ within us, whose strength of character was manifest in the wilderness, whose faithfulness was revealed in the darkness of Gethsemane, and whose resurrection would not have happened without death.
The testing of our mettle is a part of life. When it happens we can trust that God is not punishing but purifying us. For no saint can be made without first passing through the fire.
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