Committed to the framework?

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How little do they see what really is, who frame their hasty judgment upon that which seems. 
(Daniel Webster)

Gold can be proved to be pure by fire, but gold will ruin. When your faith is proven to be pure, the result will be praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ comes. You have not seen Christ, but still you love him. You can’t see him now, but you believe in him. You are filled with a wonderful and heavenly joy that cannot be explained. Your faith has a goal, and you are reaching that goal—your salvation. (I Peter 1:7-9)

Your faith has a goal - one you may not fully understand, but one you will 'grow into' as you spend time with Jesus. We don't see what we will become, but God has ordained (purposed ahead of time) for all that we will do, experience, and become in Christ Jesus. Faith must be proven - probably something you didn't want to hear, right? Without the 'proving' of our faith, it is kind of mushy, wishy-washy, and 'limp'. We need a 'backbone' to our faith and that only comes through testing. 

What may 'seem' one way in your life today may be the framework for what will become something totally beyond your wildest expectations. We don't always know what the building will become just by seeing the framework going up, do we? We see walls being added, but still, we don't see the end result. Once the drywall is up, it still won't give us the final impression of what the framework was designed to become. Faith is kind of like that - adding to it every day is important, so that we can eventually see what God has designed for the 'inner working' of that framework.

The working out of our salvation is not accomplished in a flash and then it is all done. Yes, we are set free from our sin, washed clean by the blood of Jesus, and stand redeemed before God the moment we say yes to Jesus. The time between saying yes to him and our last breath on this earth is the time God will be working within that framework to help us be formed into the beautiful creation he has purposed for us to be. To live within the framework is to commit to the development of the inner structure! Just sayin!

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