To Encourage You

2 Peter 1:8 “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.”

Do you realize that our attitude is a direct reflection of the strength of our faith?  If our attitude is driven by the circumstances in our life – the things we see and experience – it may be a reflection that we have very little true faith. 

One characteristic of faith is how our trust in the unseen God is demonstrated in our emotions.  If the greatness and glory of God, although we have never seen him, is nevertheless in the constant forefront of our thinking, then the inevitable prevailing attitude of our heart will be joy – great joy.  If we really believe what He has said to us in His Word – things like “I will never leave you or forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5), “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20), “don’t worry about what you will eat or drink or wear . . ., for the Father knows that you need them all” (Matthew 6:31-32), “count it all joy when you fall into various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. . . that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (i.e. maturity in your faith)” (James 1:2-4), and “all things work together for good to those that love God” (Romans 8:28), how could we have anything but joy in our heart?  If those are our thoughts and these are the things we truly believe, then the things we see, no matter how bad they may appear to be, will not rattle us or cause us to fear or despair. 

If, on the other hand, we are facing today with fear, anxiety, and even depression, it is a reflection that we don’t really believe the things we say we believe if we are Christians.  God has filled his Word and our lives with many things that should fill our hearts with “inexpressible joy.”  And God loves us too much to allow a lack of such an attitude to continue. He will test us with trials to produce in us a genuine trust in him. 

So are you facing trials today?  Are you fearful because of them rather than joyful in spite of them?  If so, may God continue to work in your – and my – life to teach us more and more to truly trust Him, Whom we can’t see (for this is true faith), rather than fret about our circumstances that we can see all too well.