Worth more than gold

1 Peter 1:1-9

¹ This letter is from Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.

I am writing to God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. ² God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

May God give you more and more grace and peace.

³ All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, ⁴ and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. ⁵ And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.

⁶ So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. ⁷ These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

⁸ 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. ⁹ The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.

As we begin the letters of Peter the apostle, I want to note the significance of the author. Peter’s name is mentioned in the gospels more than any other name except Jesus. He was of Jesus’s closest friends and disciple, and the one Jesus chose to be the foundation of the early church. It could be argued that Peter knew Jesus better than any other human on the planet.

Peter writes a beautiful letter of hope to the believers who were scattered and suffering, to encourage them of their inheritance in Christ both in this life and in the next.

He encourages them to rejoice in their suffering because it is a test of their faith which, when endured with hope, will produce glory to God.

Faith… tested by fire: Our faith isn’t tested because God doesn’t know how much or what kind of faith we have. It is tested because we often are unaware of how much or what kind of faith we have. God’s purpose in testing is to display the enduring quality of our faith.

You may have observed someone go through trials and become bitter or walk away from following Jesus.

And then another will go through trials and come through stronger in their faith giving praise to God for how He has brought them through it.

I know which one I want to be. It’s worth more than gold or anything else I could desire on this earth.

Lord Jesus, help us to be people who rejoice in our trials, knowing that the testing of our faith produces character and results in the praise, glory and honour of Your Name.

Written by Shelley Witt

You may find this Bible Project video about 1 Peter helpful.