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, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
1 Peter 1:8-9 NIV
Joy In the Invisible
It took an awfully long time — almost three decades — to convince the federal government to carve the dates of the Korean War into the side of Canada’s national war memorial in Ottawa. Author and historian Ted Barris said, “I think it was the mid-1990s before local cenotaphs across the country chipped the names of those who served in Korea into their [local] stone monuments. And up until that point, for many Canadians, they were invisible.”
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Have you noticed that some of the best things in life are things that you can’t see? These include friendship, family, a sense of accomplishment, volunteering. The list goes on and on. The apostle Peter understood this and so writes in his first epistle, 1 Peter 1:8-9: “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, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” Those of us who love Jesus have never seen Him face-to-face. As with all things in the Christian life, we walk by faith, loving the Jesus we have never seen. The assurance of our faith also comes through things we cannot see – peace, hope, joy, and a deep and profound sense of His loving presence around us and within. We have the assurance of our salvation, Peter says here, something else that can only be seen through the eyes of our faith. Today, keep on trusting in the One whom you cannot see, but who is very real – Jesus.
These have been words from the heart.
Bob Beasley