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1 Peter 1:6-7
“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
One of the biggest misconceptions we face as Christians is that once we come to Christ life will be easy. That if we just have enough faith we will never have any problems. The issue is when we look at Scripture we are never told this, in fact we are told quite the opposite many times. Jesus himself told us many times to expect persecution for being a Christian and here in James, and the sentiments are mirrored in 1 Peter, that we are to not just expect problems, trials, tribulation, or persecution but we are to take joy in it. We see it in James 1:2, “Count it all joy,” and Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1:6, “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,”
You see there is a reason for trials, in that much like physical growth we have to encounter some pain. Peter tells us it tests the genuineness of our faith. Peter uses the imagery of refining gold, this is a process where the gold ore is melted down, or in Peter’s time a combination of acidic substances and heat were used to melt away the impurities from the gold. No matter which era you were refining gold in it is a process that put the ore through some harsh treatment in order to get as much of the impurities out of the gold as possible.
The problem is that no one likes to go through trials, I know some of the classes in college I hated the most were the ones that challenged me the most. It was because they were not easy, but it was also in those classes that I probably learned the most. Much like in our Christian lives we all want that mountain top experience, and we never want it to end. We enjoy that feeling when we are close to God, and everything seems to be going right. The problem is with our spiritual life in that state, much like on the top of a mountain, nothing grows. It is in the valleys where the growth happens. So when you go through the valleys take joy and remember that God is still working on you to help you grow and purify your faith.
