⁷. . . the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ . . .

While our faith in one sense is precious to us, it is the object of our faith that has the real value. And that is what motivates us to endure through our earthly testings and trials. We can see our Lord at the finish line cheering us on. That comes when He returns or when we die. We have God’s promise: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones” (Ps. 116:15).

Yet our faith is precious to the Lord as well as to us—interestingly, the grammar of the sentence leaves open-ended the question of who finds our faith precious. It is there for whoever observes and appreciates it, especially in the thick of trials. And no one knows this better and more profoundly than the Lord. To Him, our faith is precious.

Just how precious or valuable is our faith to our Lord? As noted earlier, the Lord owns everything. Quoting loosely from Psalm 50:10, the old hymn of the faith puts it this way: “He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.” He created everything, so He owns everything. To speak of God being rich means diamonds and gold are like dust to Him. Today’s billionaires are like penniless beggars. When one owns everything, what does one consider as valuable? God moves our faith to the top of the list; He considers it more valuable than how we consider this world’s wealth. To the ancient world, gold was it. Today, it might mean owning stocks and real estate holdings that would put us at the top of Forbes’ richest people in the world. God sees our faith in Him as even more valuable to Him than that.

The apostle prays that we would see just how valuable we are to God by speaking of our inheritance: “. . . that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints . . .” (Eph. 1:18).

I imagine God proudly displaying for all eternity and all creation, even the demonic world, the pinnacle of His creation and work in the world. This is the essential message of the book of Job, the story of a man who trusted God even though everything had been taken from him, who endured unrelenting pain and grief. This is the story of our lives when we go through various trials and tribulations and still continue to trust God, knowing that these difficulties of life only serve to refine our faith, and result in increased praise, glory, and honor when the eyes of all creation will see our Lord Jesus Christ fully revealed.

Lord, more than anything else, I want You to be glorified through me.