I was created for eternity…

Matt and I have been studying 1 Peter. I remember during my college and seminary years studying this book, and yet, I learn something new, something that God points out to me that is crucial at this moment in time, in my walk with Him and others who share that they, too, are followers of Jesus.

It was verse 7 that made my heart stop, but to fully grasp it, let’s also read verse 6 and 8 along with 7 from chapter 1. (Verse 7 is in bold)

“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 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,”

I grew up in a time, in which I find continues to permeate throughout churches, and that is one of “just say the prayer.”, or dare I even type, “Just get baptized.” I can vividly remember during a revival that we were told if we “but come forward and say the prayer than we would be saved from hell.” It was not shared with me or those who were with me that, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8

I recently drove past a sign with the photo of a soldier and it read, “We don’t accept applications…only commitments.”

Verse 7 in chapter 1 of 1 Peter is talking about commitments versus applications. I believe there are many out there today, walking around with the application in their back pocket or tucked away in the “did it” file but never made the commitment. In the book of John, chapter 6, verse 60-70, it talks about those who did just that and when they heard what it would mean to commit to following Jesus…”many deserted Him.” In this chapter in the book of John, Christ is telling them and us, “I don’t accept applications…only commitments.”

As I read 1 Peter 1 and camp in this chapter and the verses above, my heart truly cries out in praise, glory and honor to HIM. I don’t have to see Him to know He is here and that He alone is walking with me through the trials I face daily. It is true when it states there is an inexpressible and glorious joy. It is almost…ineffable to describe, but it fills me because I know the goal that is ahead of me and it is far better than all I face here. My salvation in HIM is set with His stamp, His deposit of the Holy Spirit in me when I decided to walk past just the “application” and stepped across the line and committed!

I was created for eternity…nothing this world holds will satisfy!