How Trials & Failures Can Bring Out God's Best In You
1 Peter 1:1-9
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, 2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood:
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little whileyou may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Video for this service can be viewed @ March 27, 2022
"But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
Luke 7:47
Do you feel trapped by your past failures? Are you fearful of the possibility of trials or difficulties that might invade and disrupt your life and plans? Have you yet experienced how God effectively redeems them in such a way that you become a better person because of them?!
Some of the most grace-filled people I have met are those that have been through some of the worst failures and struggles. They don't define themselves by those events but they have been refined because of them.
The verse above from Luke 7 is the story of woman who was broken over her past. She hoped from some redemption so she took a chance in coming to a home she discovered Jesus was going to be at. She fell at his feet and began to clean his feet with her own hair and tears she couldn't hold back as she wept before him. It was humbling and humiliating for her to expose her soul in hopes of being forgiven and valued. And... Jesus did.
In looking at the life of Peter this week, we realize he had to come to the end of himself in order for Jesus to help him become the kind of man Peter longed to be. This humbling process was necessary for him to embrace God's defining characteristic - compassion. Henri Nouwen reminds that...
"Let us not underestimate how hard it is to be compassionate. Compassion is hard because it requires the inner disposition to go with others to place where they are weak, vulnerable, lonely, and broken. But this is not our spontaneous response to suffering. What we desire most is to do away with suffering by fleeing from it or finding a quick cure for it.”
Peter had to learn that... and so do we.
This Sunday we get to discover how trials and failures can bring out God's best in you. I hope you will join us!
Grateful to journey together with you,
Pastor John