21^st June 2011

SEEDS FOR HARVESTING 6/22

1 Peter 1:8
"Though you do not see Him, you trust Him; and
even now you are happy with a glorious inexpressible joy."

These words "you do not see Him" reach out to us
from the time Peter wrote them.
Our Christian faith is based not on what we see
but what we believe with our hearts.
Our faith is real because we " trust Him."

The Christians in Peter's day were facing imminent persecution
yet still they were
"happy with a glorious inexpressible joy."
Let us stop and ask the question "is this how I feel?"

We are continually being led into false beliefs
because of what we see.
We eat too much because we are tempted by
innumerable cooking programmes on TV.
Our eyes cause us to thirst after new cars or houses.

Our "trust" is not based on what we see with our eyes.
We experience "glorious inexpressible joy"
because we "trust Him."

Some later translations
replace the word "trust" with "love."
We "trust" Jesus because we have first loved Him
and we love Him because first He has loved us.
The Word tells us
"We know how much God loves us,
and we have put our trust in His love."

Persecution, incorrect teachings, or even schisms
should not rob us of our
"glorious, inexpressible joy "
we can experience in Jesus' love for us.

Bob Imms 19.6.11