Hi Faith Family,
Praying you are healthy and in good spirits today,
Tomorrow is August 25th. The date will always have significance for Peace In Jesus—it is the date of the fire. On August 25th, 2010, a two-alarm fire destroyed the Vietnamese Restaurant two doors down from our previous location, displacing our congregation.
Since that day, exactly one year ago, we have worshipped at three different locations, our current location was foreclosed upon when we were to sign the lease, and the owner rented the next-door space of our current location to another ministry making parking extremely difficult. For a while, it was some new difficulty each week! Good Grief!
No, I mean it. It was good grief! Maybe you have seen Charlie Brown utter this phrase. Perhaps you have used it yourself. Well, it is biblical. Check out 1 Peter chapter one:
6 In this you greatly rejoice,
though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
7 These have come so that your faith—
of greater worth than gold,
which perishes even though refined by fire—
may be proved genuine and may result in praise,
glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Grief is good! The “this” referred to at the beginning of v. 6 is the previous section: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade— kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”
Doesn’t that make a tremendous difference in how we go through life’s difficulties? The fact that God’s mercy reached out to us when we were helpless and doomed because of our sin proves that God loves us and has given us a living hope that can never fade. Heaven changes our perspective on suffering. You wear sunglasses to ease the sunlight burning your eyes, right? Jesus Christ, the Son of God, affords you a pair of heavenly Songlasses—keeping your focus on things above, not earthly things. You can keep your focus on Jesus, the Author and Perfector of your faith as you go through life’s tough times.
What are yours? Freaked out about school? Concerns about your kid? Broken bone? Broken spirit? Broken family? Pressure? Don the shades, man! Put on your Songlasses, recognizing God is working on your faith. This process shows that God is investing in you by deepening your trust and faith in him.
There is a Vietnamese expression: “Fire refines gold; difficulty refines strength.” 1 Peter might be summarized similarly: “Fire refines gold, suffering refines faith.” So let it. Let the process be accomplished through the challenges, difficulties, and down-right disasters in your life right now. Let your prayer be that God’s will is done in your life with the results of your stronger faith as well as more praise, glory and honor to God echoing through eternity.
Prayer idea: Surrender your current challenges to God, asking him to work through them for the refinement of your faith. Ask God for strength to praise him not only in spite of your current difficulties but because of them.
Blessings on your week!
--Pastor Dan