1 Peter 1:7

It is easy to be a Christian when life is favourable. But Christians often have troubles in their lives. God uses these troubles to make their *faith in God strong and pure. To have *faith in God means to trust in God and in Jesus Christ his Son. James 1:2-4 says that troubles help people to grow up as strong Christians. So they should have joy even when they have troubles.

In this world gold is very valuable. When someone has *faith in God, this is much more valuable to God than gold. Gold is a metal. It shines even when it is not pure. If you mix gold with other metals, it still looks like pure gold. If you melt gold in a pot in a hot fire, you can find out whether the gold really is pure. As it gets hotter, any other metals or bits of dirt rise to the surface. Then someone can remove them. Peter said that troubles in a person’s life are like this fire. When people have troubles, they see the bad behaviour that hides inside themselves. They should stop their bad behaviour and trust God. If they do this, then their *faith in God is genuine.

‘Your genuine *faith will bring *praise, *glory and honour to Jesus when he comes again’. This means that both Jesus and the person with genuine *faith will receive *praise, *glory and honour. We shall not understand some of God’s purposes in this life. God will *reveal them only at the final judgement.