Day 3: 1 Peter 1:6-7 - Unbalanced Scales

You have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ

Peter, along with other parts of God's word, makes comparisons between various components of the Christian life and gold, arguing that there are things more precious than the most precious this world can offer. Looking at verses 6-7, what ways is this true of faith?

Here are three suggestions:

1. When gold goes through the refinement process, impurities and lesser materials are stripped away making the output physically smaller. Faith, when refined, increases (Luke 17:5).

2. When gold is treated and polished, it has a limit to how much it can shine. After a certain point, its radiance cannot be further augmented. There is no limit to how bright a Christian's faith can be - the more it is tried, the greater its luster. The sun’s brilliance far exceeds all the gold of the earth, such will be a Christian’s glory (Matthew 13:43).

3. Gold does not even get recognition from God in the end and it is implied that it won’t even last until then. The fight of faith will be directly commended from Jesus (Matthew 25:21).

But how much more precious is faith than gold?

Is it a few dollars more? Thousands? Millions? If the difference between the world’s best and Christ is not all that significant, if it is a situation where “you can’t go wrong”, then why would anyone endure the suffering?

The juice will only be worth the squeeze when we see that the offer of Christ is not only greater but infinitely so. The outcome of faith is eternal life (1 Timothy 6:12) and trials are a necessary ingredient to that end. No one would choose a million dollars over saving their mother’s life. Understand the comparison and find there is no comparison at all – true faith is very precious.

 

Posted by Andrew Kim on 6/22/2016

Comments

Worth and value are such interesting things. God definitely intended for money and materials and things to have some sort of widely-accepted perceived worth. But it's interesting that people accept the perceived worth of finite things in this finite life without contrasting it to the infinite worth that is found elsewhere.

Like, the $20 bill only has value because the government says it has value. Separated from what society says its worth, it's just a piece of paper more or less like the paper that we write on (yes, it is "special" paper that has cool anti-forgery tech and stuff but it burns just like my stationery). Lobsters are seen as "high class" eating now, but they used to be considered peasant food. Kale used to only be used as Pizza Hut salad bar decorations, but now it's the trendy health food.

You can't bank your life on these sorts of things because 1) they won't satisfy and 2) their worth isn't static. I mean seriously, the value of gold and the relative values of currencies fluctuate by the seconds. But we can bank our life on the One with absolute worth with a faith that's far more valuable.

Chris Moon on 6/22/2016 at 12:15 AM

Peter's audience must have been people really struggling which made Peter's words more urgent to encourage. Peter acknowledges their suffering in verse 6. He goes on to enourage them to believe in God and His teachings even though they have never seen Jesus (verse 8-9). I think that's why the comparison between gold and salvation has that much more power. Peter wants the people to realize that yes, even though you were not able to witness the miracles and hear the teachings straight from Jesus, this walk in faith (with all the trials and tribulations) is worth knowing Jesus and saving your soul. Gold was probably the most precious entity in their time and something they also knew of and maybe have seen. Faith in Jesus is worth so much more than even the most precious jewels that can be made.

Diana Lim on 6/22/2016 at 7:56 AM

Well said, Chris. I like your midnight mind mumblings. Very insightful. =]

Diana Lim on 6/22/2016 at 7:57 AM