How much do you enjoy grief? Do you relish being tested and tried by hardship and adversity? Such things aren’t fun and certainly don’t sound enjoyable. And yet, suffering, trials, and tests can lead to joy! In 1 Peter 1:6-7 we read, “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.”
The “in this” Peter speaks of is the truth that, by God’s mercy, Christians are born again and possess a hope of salvation, resurrection, and eternal life. But before we inherit eternity, we must live this life with its various griefs, trials, and tests. But if we hold fast to Jesus through these trials, how much sweeter and more joyous heaven will surely be!