By James Higdon
1 Peter 1:8
Today’s devotional passage focuses on an aspect of love that we don’t often consider, although it is something of which we are certainly conscious and aware. None of us has “seen God” like we see our friends and acquaintances at work, at social gatherings, at church, etc. Nor do we really consider the fact that we often do not treat our invisible Lord as well as we treat our visible friends. We can touch and feel each other when we interact, but obviously we can’t do that with our Lord when we interact with him. We often “feel the Lord’s presence,” but it is not a presence that we can touch and feel in the same manner as with our spouses, children, and close friends. We love and serve a God we cannot see, that is invisible, yet visible in what we see he created. We help our friends in showing our love for them, and often see the tangible results of doing so, but it is difficult to measure our attempts to have a similar relationship with Jesus. Love is the best way to declare and show the invisible God our belief in Him, and our actions of love declare and demonstrate our faith in the God we cannot see. So, although we don’t visually see the Lord in the same way we do our friends, we deeply believe in Him and know in our hearts that we are truly having a “material relationship” with Him, and, in fact, feel that “inexpressible and glorious joy” that Peter is referring to. Even though we don’t “see God” as we do our friends, because we love him, we are filled with “an inexpressible and glorious joy” through which we experience Him, experience His presence, and experience His Love.