1 Peter 1:7
“That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:”
According to the verse above, the most precious thing you possess is your faith. Your faith is what you believe. It is the core of why you do what you do. It would seem to be difficult for a person to quit their faith, but it happens.
There is an interesting statement made in the verse above about your faith. It says, “That the trial of your faith…” This is not talking about trials you go through in life, but it is talking about your faith being tried. In other words, there are going to be times when your faith is tested. It is in these times that you must not quit your faith. It is in these times when your faith is “tried with fire” that you must garner all the strength you can to continue so that your faith “might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:”
Trying your faith means that you are brought to a point when you want to quit serving the LORD in the manner that you serve Him. I know, it seems impossible, but there are many who were driven to the point of quitting their faith. Jeremiah, Peter, John Mark and Thomas are just a few that almost quit their faith. What drove them to this point? Jeremiah wanted to quit when he got tired of fighting for the faith. Peter almost quit his faith when he was faced with the possibility of persecution. John Mark almost quit his faith when the pleasures of the world seemed more enticing than enduring the trials of his faith. Thomas almost quit when he was disillusioned with the outcome of his dreams. These situations and more can cause a person to want to quit the faith. What must you do to keep the faith?
First, settle before the trial of your faith what you truly believe. One of the reasons some have quit the faith is because they just didn’t know what they believed. It is much easier to continue if you know what you are doing is the right thing. One thing that a trial will do to a person who is weak in the faith is that it will cause them to doubt. Settle now what you believe before you face the trial of your faith.
Second, realizing you will give your enemies fodder will help you to continue in the trial of your faith. The one thing that kept Jeremiah going was knowing if he quit his enemies would use it as justification that they were right. When you are at the point of wanting to quit, just think about what your enemies will say about you.
Third, keep your eyes on the master plan. You have to see there is an end to all that you are enduring. I have found that when my faith is tried, I look to the end of what I am doing, and that motivates me to keep going. If you quit, your children may go to the world. If you quit, your efforts may be wasted. If you quit, your circle of influence may use it as justification to go live the life that you once fought against.
Finally, determine to take one more step when your faith is tried. Living one day at a time will help you to continue when your faith is tried. There will be times when the only way you can continue is to determine that you will simply take one more step. You may be weary, but you can take one more step. If you don’t quit, God will reward you at His appearing. If you are at the point of quitting, I beg you to decide you are going to keep the faith by taking one more step.