1 Peter 1:8-9 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)
“8Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9now that you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
By His Great Mercy
The context here is about Jesus Christ. By the grace of God
and by God-persuaded faith in Him we are born anew into the family of God. We
are delivered out of our bondage (addiction) to sin so we might now serve God
with our lives in obedience to his commands. All this was made possible via
Jesus’ death and resurrection. For in his death he put our sins to death with him
so that by faith in him we might die to sin. And in his resurrection he
conquered death that we might live with him in obedience to his commands.
By genuine biblical faith in him, which comes from God, and
which is not of our own doing, we receive “an inheritance that is imperishable,
undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for you, who through faith are
shielded by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the
last time” (vv. 4-5). But by “faith,” which comes from God, and which is not of
our own doing, if our faith is genuine, we deny self, die to sin, and follow
our Lord in obedience to his commands, as a matter of life practice, by his
grace.
For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny
self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if
we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity.
But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience
to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with
God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven,
but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew
7:21-23).
You Love Him
What does that look like if truly we love Jesus Christ, the
second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – our God who we
are not able to see with our physical eyes? The Greek word for love is agape,
which means “to prefer,” and in this context it means to prefer what God
prefers which is all that is holy, righteous, morally pure, upright, honest,
faithful and obedient to our Lord and to his commands. We prefer to live
through Christ while embracing God’s will, which results in obedience to his
commands.
So, how is that we are able to love someone who we cannot
see? How can we believe in him who we cannot see with our physical eyes? How
can we be sure that he even exists? God persuades us. He reveals himself to us
in his creation (see Romans 1:18-20), and in our minds, hearts, and spirits. And
he reveals himself to us through his written Word. But “seeing” is not just
physical. Seeing is also perceiving, sensing, and comprehending in our spirits
what is of God as it is revealed to us by God, if we are willing to receive
what is of God and by faith in him follow him wherever he leads us.
The Goal of Our Faith
The goal of our faith, in this life, is that we deny self,
die to sin, and obey God and his commands; that we follow him wherever he leads
us, that we do all that he says to do, that we love God with our whole being,
and that we love our fellow humans with the love of God, which comes from God.
And the end goal of our faith, which by faith we are now receiving (progressive),
is the salvation of our souls. But we must die to sin, obey God, in practice,
and we must continue in that until the day we die, for us to have salvation.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts
26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans
8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1
Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians
5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14;
Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24;
1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation
3:1-22]
By Thomas Donn Charles / Williams
Charles Henry
Thou Oh LORD, are the shield about me
You're my glory, You’re the lifter of
my head
Hallelujah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPCUmT6mj48
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Though You Have Not Seen Him
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