Stranger ThingsSample

Testing Faith

A wise man I know recently told me, "faith is just a 'church-word' until we actually have something on the line." We tend to minimize faith by thinking of it as a synonym for “belief” – what we believe, we have faith in. And though the two words are related, they have a few profound differences. I can believe a chair will support my weight and provide a comfortable place to rest my legs, but I don’t have faith in that chair until I put my butt in it and see if it will hold me. 

As for our faith in Jesus, Peter reminds his audience – which, by the way, is a group of Christians scattered throughout the world because they are fleeing from intense persecution – that their faith in Jesus is so valuable that God would concern Himself with building and preserving it. The method He chooses to accomplish that, however, is allowing them to endure persecution. Challenges or difficult times are one of the greatest producers of real, lasting faith. Often, our first instinct when we encounter a trial of some sort, is to ask God to get rid of it as quickly as possible! Perhaps we should begin viewing the challenges we face as simply an opportunity for our faith to grow as we trust Jesus and watch Him bring us through whatever it is.