The Plumbline

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 

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. (James 1:2-4) I bet there aren't too many of us that actually think trials are good for us, much less that God could actually allow more than a few of them to come our way. Trials are meant to test our faith - period. Within the trial comes the chance to really show who it is we serve and what it is we believe. In other words, we are showing God we put him first and rely upon him for all we have need of in our lives. It is in the midst of the trial that our 'true self' emerges. It is within the trial that we see how much we rely upon ourselves through the knowledge we have amassed, or our ability to 'reason it out' on our own. These trials may not be easy, but they act