Who would believe it’s February already! It will soon be a year since lockdown began with its ever changing restrictions and impact on our lives. Valentine’s Day will soon be here too. It is going to be a very different one for many couples this year. No meals out, no romantic trips away and even meeting up holds its challenges for many. Partners will need to find more innovative ways to show their hearts to each other perhaps by mail on online. Yet you often see some couples getting together only to soon find out they are not really all that compatible. The thing is as they spend a bit of time together for some reason or another their expectations are not met.
1 Peter 1: 6-9 tells us:
Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls
This passage speaks of trials and difficulties to be faced. I am sure we can all relate with those in one way or another. The great news is they are only for a season. Now they may feel real and long lasting right now, but they will pass. Those trials that stretch us can be the making of us particularly in the spiritual realm. Christians long for Jesus' return; when He does all will be worth it. Imagine falling head over heals in love with someone you have never physically seen before! Yet you know Him, feel Him in your heart and have relationship with Him! It’s a walk of love and of faith! I cannot promise no more difficult days or trails ahead. I can though confirm that God's word tells us in Romans 8:28:
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.”
Even the tough days work for your benefit if you are in relationship with Christ. If you have never met Christ before you can meet Jesus and find a love that will never let you go. You can have a plan and purpose that we are promised will all work out well in the end and has eternally lasting consequences.
Love in Christ
Pastor John