“You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.”
1 Peter 1:8-9 NLT
Human beings can very emotional and some of our most memorable times are filled with emotions. We are overwhelmed when we see people we love after a long absence. We are filled with emotion when we marry or witness the birth of our children. But emotions, our feelings are fleeting. They are so vividly present but gone the next moment. Our faith in God is crucial to our Christian life as faith is the currency of heaven. Without faith we cannot obtain anything from God’s kingdom. But faith does not come from feelings.
No, we cannot depend on emotions to develop our faithfulness. We must experience something much deeper than just feelings for it to truly last in our lives. We must gain a trust in our God that is founded on a deep heart knowledge that can endure our struggles. Our verse today says we trust in him even though we do not see him now and we have a joy that is unspeakable because of that trust. God gives us the opportunity to develop a trust, a faith in him even when we cannot sense him but we know he is there. There to strengthen us, there to guide us, there to love us always, that is our God!
When we gain the insight, the revelation of who God is, we gain the faith to believe in him even in difficult circumstances. You see it is not a feeling or an emotion, but the truth you know about God that sets you free. That truth is not fleeting but eternal and it is the foundation of our existence with our Lord. Seek him and you will find him, a God of love who desires to bless you with his salvation.
In Christ
RJ