Although you have not seen him, you love him

Jock Stein April 15, 2026 0 0

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1 Peter 1: 3-9 (NIV-UK)

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 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, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Not a hint of a shrug in this passage, until we reach verse 8, which might make us remember Thomas, who could not believe until he saw and touched for himself. Walking by faith and not sight, as we do, can easily tempt us into the shrug of uncertainty, where faith becomes casual and just one option among many. Note the assurance that heaven is real (verses 3-4).

There is however a proper uncertainty, where we remain agnostic about the furniture of heaven, where we acknowledge that we are no better than the most outspoken atheist, where our speech about why we believe (1 Peter 3: 15-16) is made humbly, gently and with a recognition that it is God, not clever words, who brings light.

Verse 9 comforts us and also challenges us, because it tells us that salvation is not only something we have received (through trusting in Christ), not only something we shall receive (after death), but something we are receiving daily. Ask God to show you what that means, and where it puts your shoulders.

PRAY:

Use verses 3 and 4 to link birth and resurrection, in Christ and in ourselves, and praise God for what salvation means now. Remember those who are suffering various trials.