What does Peter teach us about faith?

We begin the study of 1 Peter today. Hopefully you saw the Facebook images this week for 1 Peter 1:6-8, 13, and 24-25 and you are ready to learn a little more about those and other verses today! If not, you can check them out on Facebook. Please read 1 Peter 1 before you go further. 😊

Let's start with some background. Peter is writing to people scattered as far away as the Black and Aegean Seas at the original time of this letter. The furthest location being over 1,700 miles away from Jerusalem. (I asked for directions from Jerusalem, Israel to Izmir, Turkey in the Google Map to the right, so the mileage is an estimate.) The people, "those who reside as aliens" (vs 1) were driven from their homes because of persecution, because they believed in Jesus. Peter encourages them to rejoice in their salvation in spite of the persecution they are enduring (vs. 6).

Are you feeling persecuted these days? Are you distressed by various trials (vs. 6)? I think we are all distressed by various trials. There is so much going on in our world today! Just to provide a little perspective, though, we do still have freedom to worship our God out loud, which the original audience did not have. We do not have to cower in fear that we could be killed because we proclaim we follow Jesus.

Peter goes on to teach that the proof of faith is imperishable. Unlike many things including gold, the proof of your faith will never go bad or lose its value (vs. 6-7). I'm thinking of the produce available right now. Seems like it is going bad so much quicker than usual. I buy it and it expires the next day. Praise God that the proof of our faith is not like that! It is not going to go bad the next day. It will not even go bad years from now!

Peter makes more points about faith through this first chapter. He notes that these people (and we) have faith in an unseen God. We cannot reach out and touch Jesus like Peter was able to do while Jesus was on earth. However, at the time of Peter's writing, Jesus had ascended to Heaven, so he was putting his faith in an unseen God too. I sometimes wonder if Peter had it easier being able to be in Jesus' presence. I mean, he had enough faith to get out of the boat and walk on water toward Jesus (Matthew 14:22-26)! Then I remember the unfortunate events where he denied knowing Jesus (Luke 22:54-62). Peter wasn't ready for persecution when Jesus was arrested. My oh my how much people can change when they trust in Jesus! Peter went from denying Jesus to being willing to die himself for Jesus.

Peter also writes that faith brings about salvation. We cannot be saved without believing in Jesus. Believing takes faith! So, what is faith exactly? Google dictionary says that faith is a complete trust or confidence in someone or something. Complete. Trust. Trust is a little difficult to come by in this day and time, isn't it? It is so hard to know if the news you are reading is real news or fake news. Is this expert really an expert or an attention seeker? Does the reporter have ulterior motives? Is the information skewed in some way? Who can you trust completely? I would like to think that you have at least some people within your circle of friends and family you can trust completely, but even if there isn't, there is one person everyone can trust. Jesus. When we place our trust in Him, completely, we have faith. When we live out our faith - a complete trust in Jesus - we can be saved.

So, the proof of our faith is imperishable; it is precious, and faith brings about salvation. These come together to motivate us to serve others. Verse 13 "Therefore, prepare your minds for action..." Our faith and salvation are not substances that we bottle up and keep for ourselves. The objective is that we put our faith into action.

We are called to faith, salvation, and action so that we can "...fervently love one another from the heart,"(vs. 22). We are to love one another. Oh, how we need to love one another during this time of uncertainty and change.

If you are like me, then your patience may be wearing thin. You and your family may be trending toward getting on one another's last nerve! You may be ready to snap when you scroll through social media. We can make a different choice, though. The choice is to prepare our minds for action. When we remember who Jesus is, what He means to us, AND what His word teaches us, then we love one another. We tap into all of those verses we've read and studied and listened to to help focus our attention on Jesus. We live out our faith thereby giving proof to those around us.

We will persevere through the crazy times in which we are living! We will stand firm in our faith so that all can see in whom we believe and through whom we are saved. We will set our minds on action - to love those around us.

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