“…Jesus Christ, whom you loved when you did not see him. Even though you do not see him, you believe, rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, and have received the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:7-9).
It is possible to be satisfied and unsatisfied at the same time. Even though our deepest longings will not be fully satisfied until our Lord returns, we can live in the present with a sense of satisfaction in God’s goodness. And looking at it from the other direction, even though we experience a peace that is beyond comprehension, we can live with a joyful anticipation that the best is yet to come. Satisfaction and desire need not be contradictory. We can long for God with a joy that is as deep as our longing. Indeed, our longing can be a part of our joy.
Peter wrote that we can “rejoice unspeakable and full of glory,” because we have “obtained the end of (our) faith – the salvation of (our) souls.” It is important to note that this indescribable joy can be ours, even if the end of our faith, the final salvation of our souls, has not yet been achieved. our joy is joy Hope. It is a joy for those who are convinced that they are on the path that leads to their Father. We’re grateful to be home!
And yet our joy can be greater than the joy of hope: we can learn to enjoy Process Which is leading to our salvation. We’re really on a path, and we haven’t reached the end of it yet. But the path itself is full of pleasant things, things that God has created for us to enjoy along the way. Surely it would be wrong for our hearts to become so focused on heaven that we fail to appreciate the goodness of the journey by which God plans to take us there.
Christian truly has the best of both worlds. So when we say that godliness is profitable for all things, “for the life that now is” and “for that which is to come” (1 Timothy 4:8), we must endorse more than a doctrine; We should tell our experience. We need people who are eager to move forward, as well as people who want to move forward. With gratitude. We need to long passionately for God, but long for Him with a joy that is real right now.
“We must not quarrel the ideas of satisfaction and aspiration, for God has made them fast friends. A man may aspire and yet be quite satisfied until it is time to rise; and flying and resting are both parts of the same satisfaction. The fruit of the gospel is aspiration itself. It is to the heart what spring is to the earth, making every root, and bud, and branch yearn for more” (Henry Ward Beecher).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com AreYouaChristian.com
