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One of the great
tragedies of the Christian life is that if we fail to enter into a
relationship with God that is born of the Holy Spirit, we are left
with a religion, not a relationship. Many a person today lives
with an intellectual belief in God, but without a relationship
that is based on two-way communication. This is the greatest
tragedy of all.
It's like having a brand-new car but never having the gas to run
it. It can't move you anywhere. It only looks pretty, but one
cannot enjoy the ride or smell the newness inside.
Peter tells us that until our faith is proved genuine, we will
never be able to give praise, glory, and honor to Jesus, because
until such testing He will not be revealed in our lives. Peter
describes this in the verse before: "In this you greatly
rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer
grief in all kinds of trials" (1Pet.1:6).
Trials are designed to bring us to a level of trust and experience
with God that we would never know otherwise.
These "faith experiences" with God allow us to know
firsthand the faithfulness of God, the love of God, and the
personal nature of God. If you cannot recount several instances
when God has met you personally, then chances are your faith has
not been born of the Holy Spirit into a living relationship with
God. It is easy to fall prey to a relationship to God that never
experiences His real presence; rather, it is based on knowledge
only. This is a tragic place to be.
If this is where you have been in your Christian experience, ask
God today to make Himself real to you. Ask Him to show you His
personal nature and love. He desires to do this. Those whom He has
called know His voice. He will show Himself to those who are His. "He
who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love him
and show Myself to him" (Jn.14:21b).
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