1 Peter 1:3-9 (MSG) What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole. 

I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory. 

You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don’t see him, yet you trust him—with laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you’ll get what you’re looking forward to: total salvation.

Our faith is so much more valuable than gold. It’s our faith not our gold that is evidence of His victory. Has He won in our hearts? Does He reign victorious in our lives? I imagine, if I asked this question at school tomorrow, most of the students would honestly answer, “Sometimes.”

I simply want to encourage believers today to hold tight to Peter’s words here. “You still don’t see him, yet you trust him – with laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you’ll get what you’re looking forward to: total salvation!” 

Did you catch that? TOTAL SALVATION! What a God we have indeed! Draw closer to the One who is Life. Throw out the dead wood of our earthly lives… who wants to be dead sometimes when Life is right before us for the taking?… always. “Trust Him with laughter and singing!”