1 Peter 1:3-9 (NIV 2011)

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷ These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁸ 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, ⁹ for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Reflection:

Trials can bring grief, frustration, and discouragement. Yet they can also serve as a purification process where our faith is proven to be genuine. The testing process reveals what is truly precious and what will last, and everything else is left behind.

As our faith is proven genuine through trials, this passage affirms that we love Jesus more though we have not seen Him. We believe in and trust Christ the risen Lord, and we are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.

Response:

Let’s thank God that our hearts and our faith can be purified through hardship. We can believe even more in His promises and trust in the power of His Spirit in our lives. Let’s ask the Lord to strengthen our faith even more in difficult times so we would respond with greater praise throughout and after the process.

John 21:15-19 (NIV 2011)

¹⁵ When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

¹⁶ Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

¹⁷ The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. ¹⁸ Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” ¹⁹ Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

Reflection:

Jesus is testing Peter here, looking to see with Peter what is really in his heart. Does Peter love Him? The process is painful, but it results in a proving of Peter’s love for Jesus, despite all that had happened and been done.

As Jesus speaks with Peter, He sees forward to the time when Peter will be filled with the Holy Spirit and all that he is called to will be possible. Jesus can speak with confidence when He commands, “Follow me!”

Response:

We have the Spirit of God living in us, who makes it possible for us to love God and follow Him. Let’s read this passage again, asking God to give us a greater love for Him and a greater desire to feed His sheep. As we pray, let’s fully believe that following God is possible. He has called us to this life and He empowers us because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Deuteronomy 13:1-5 (NIV 2011)

¹If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, ² and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” ³ you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. ⁵ That prophet or dreamer must be put to death for inciting rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. That prophet or dreamer tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.

Reflection:

There is a similarity between the situation described in this passage and that of the Corinthian church. Other prophets are coming in and preaching another gospel, telling people to follow another god.

It is exactly in these situations when God’s people are tested to see if they love Him with all of their heart and all of their soul. God’s heart for His people is revealed here - He wants them to follow Him alone.

This is just as true for us today. We are constantly being tempted to stray away from the Lord, turning our hearts to such idols as money, achievements, fame, sex, or entertainment. In the midst of these tests, may we choose Him above all other “gods”, loving Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Response:

Let’s turn to the Lord again, proclaiming that He is the only God we want to serve and love. If other idols have been tempting us away, let us repent and turn away from them and toward God, asking Him to guard our hearts and protect us from temptation.

Genesis 22:1-18 (NIV 2011)

¹ Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

² Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

³ Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. ⁴ On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. ⁵ He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

⁶ Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, ⁷ Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

⁸ Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

⁹ When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹ But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

¹² “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

¹³ Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ramcaught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”

¹⁵ The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time ¹⁶ and said, “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, ¹⁷ I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, ¹⁸ and through your offspringbecause you have obeyed me.”

Reflection:

God’s tests may seem cruel or harsh to some. Abraham had wanted a child for his entire life, and when God finally gave him one in his old age, the Lord said he would take him away. Yet the test was grounded in God’s desire for Abraham to see what was in his own heart. Abraham feared God and trusted Him, and verses 13-14 show that he was able to experience the incredible reality that the Lord Will Provide. Even more powerfully, God renewed His promise that Abraham and his descendants would be blessed and be a blessing for all nations on earth.

Abraham acted in faith. He had no “proof” that God would provide for him but he trusted in God’s promises while being tested. We have been called as a people to worship God and serve Him, through all the trials and tests of everyday life. Some tests are harder to face than others. Yet through all of them, let us trust that God’s resurrection reality lives in us through His Spirit and the Lord Will Provide.

Response:

Let us declare that God is with us. Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, we have the Spirit of God living in us, empowering us through hardships and trials. Let’s thank God for this reality and proclaim again that we will trust that the Lord Will Provide for all of our needs.

2 Corinthians 13:5-14 (NIV 2011)

⁵ Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? ⁶ And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test. ⁷ Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong—not so that people will see that we have stood the test but so that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed. ⁸ For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. ⁹ We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is that you may be fully restored. ¹⁰ This is why I write these things when I am absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority—the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down.

¹¹ Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

¹² Greet one another with a holy kiss. ¹³ All God’s people here send their greetings.

¹⁴ May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Reflection:

We know what it means to take tests. Throughout school we took them, and we may be familiar with the routine of answering some questions to receive a grade. But God’s tests are different. He tests not with questions on a piece of paper but with life experience. The tests bring out what is in our hearts and what we live for - do we love God? Do we trust Him?

Paul challenged the Corinthians to examine themselves. Yet verses 11-14 reveal that Paul had great hope for them in passing the test because of the reality of Christ in them. We are invited to examine ourselves as well. We can be encouraged because we have the same hope that Paul had for the Corinthians - the reality of Christ in us, in our church. As we go through each test, may we believe even more that He truly is with us and we love and trust Him.

Response:

God allows and brings tests into our lives so we may know what is in our hearts. Let us spend some time in reflection and prayer, thinking about the tests we have gone through recently or are going through now. Ask the Lord to reveal what He is showing us through the tests. As He opens our eyes, may we turn away from worldly ways of responding and may we respond with gratitude and ask Him to help us to trust Him even more.