encouragement

1 Peter 1:6-7

Posted on by chgruver

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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.

Proverbs 12:15

Posted on by chgruver

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“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.” Proverbs 12:15 (ESV)

This verse brings to mind two sayings which just shows how true this proverb can be.

The first phrase is “only fools rush in.” It pretty much sums up this proverb. It tends to show the brashness of a fool, in that they will act rather than to take the time to plan or even seek advice for the best course of action. Often times it is an act of pride, they believe they know best and act on that. Sure they may encounter successes but eventually this mentality will lead them to disaster.  Look at the book of Judges, one phrase that is often repeated is that “there was no king in the land and the people did what was right in their own eyes,” and the book ends telling us of how that almost led to one of the twelve tribes being completely wiped out. Then there is the story of Jephthah and his foolish and rash vow found in Judges 11. In our own lives how often has something foolish and stupid been done simply because we did it on impulse without taking the time to think about what we were planning on doing or seeking advice on our actions? I know if I think about it I can find plenty of examples in my own life.

This leads me to the second saying, “I told you so.” How often do we cringe when we hear that phrase, especially when someone is saying it to us? It is a phrase that often times expresses a sense of failure, often times after encountering numerous red flags and warnings that are ignored. It is a phrase that expresses the foolishness of pride due to the disregard of advice, and often from someone that had already gone through similar circumstances. I think of the story of Rehoboam becoming king after Solomon. He sought advice from Solomon’s counselors but not liking the advice sought advice from those he knew that would say what he wanted to hear. This foolish action ended up with Israel splitting into two nations, the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah, and I can imagine the one group of advisors telling Rehoboam “we told you so.”

If you look at this the root of foolishness, the root of the action of the fool is pride. Pride is actually at the root of many if not all of our sins. It is when we are stating that we know best and then act out on that belief. There is a reason that humility plays a large role in the Christian life, for when we stop focusing on ourselves and take the time to think about our actions as well as to get advice from others we grow in wisdom while refusing to let pride take control. That is not saying we will always be successful, especially in the eyes of the world, but we also won’t feel like a fool when we encounter failures either..