More Precious Than Gold

It’s been said that “everything is perspective,” and this is true in the area of grief as well. What we felt like and believed on Day #1 of our bereavement is different from Year #1 or Year #5. The further we are removed in time from the loss of our loved one, the bigger our perspective is of the entire experience. For most of us, our healing comes slowly, and our sense of joy more slowly still. But one day we will be able to see the “big picture” for what it is. There is a passage in the first chapter of 1 Peter which helps us to keep the right perspective in the midst of our mourning:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (Verses 3-7)

We know that we have been “...grieved by various trials;” in fact, that has been the topic of this entire book. We have been tested beyond our limits, it seems, but it is our desire that this present affliction would result in “...praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” But is there really a reward for staying faithful to God through this difficult time? Is there a light at the end of the tunnel?

Of course there is! These verses affirm that we have a living hope and an inheritance that cannot be taken away. Our hope is based on Christ’s resurrection, which assures us of our own future resurrection and the resurrection of our loved ones. In fact, this hope is already stored in Heaven itself! What a beautiful picture of a future reality. We may despair and doubt and struggle with unbelief when we are in the midst of grief, but the eternal salvation of God’s people has already been secured.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!”