6In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
(1 Peter 1:6-9, NIV) The recipients of 1 Peter had hope, but not because their lives were easy and they could imagine a happy future. In fact, they were suffering “grief in all kinds of trials” and being “refined by fire” (vv. 6-7). Whatever Peter is referring to with those phrases, it sure doesn’t sound pleasant. In the midst of such a hard time, however, those to whom Peter wrote had hope (1 Peter 1:3-5). But not just hope for the future. They also rejoiced in the present “with an inexpressible and glorious joy” (v. 8). Notice that this does not say “you will rejoice someday” but you “are rejoicing now.” In other words, they were joyful in the midst of suffering. How was this even possible? First, the letter recipients experienced great joy because of their relationship with Jesus, whom they loved and in whom they believed even though, unlike Peter, they had not seen Jesus in the flesh (v. 8). Yet they knew Him by faith because they trusted Him for salvation. Second, the believers to whom Peter wrote rejoiced because they were “receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (v. 9). Once again, notice the tense. The original language says that they “are rejoicing [present tense]” because they “are receiving [present tense] end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (v. 9). Though the fullness of salvation lies in the future, we begin to experience salvation in this life, however incompletely. We know God’s love and forgiveness through Christ. We experience reconciliation with God and with others. We catch a glimpse of God’s future peace as His people live with justice and mercy. So our “inexpressible and glorious joy,” experienced in the midst of a broken world, flows from our relationship with Jesus Christ and His salvation as it touches our lives in the moment even as it fills us with hope for the future. The more we experience God’s love and grace, the more we’ll be able to rejoice even in the midst of a pandemic. One final word on joy. Joy doesn’t come from being told to rejoice or scolded if you’re sad. Rather, joy comes from a living relationship with Jesus Christ and from the experience of His grace. If you want to rejoice, don’t focus on making yourself joyful. Rather, focus on Jesus and knowing Him better. You can do this even in a world dominated by COVID-19. You can do this today. Glorious joy! Even now? Yes, through Jesus Christ. Gracious God, our world needs the living hope of the resurrected Lord Jesus. Help me to live with this hope at the center of my life today, for Your glory. Comments are closed.
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