1 Peter 1:8
Without having seen him you love him; though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy. (RSV)
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 (NIV)
Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory (KJV)
Although you have not seen him you love him; even though you do not see him now yet believe in him, you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, (NAB)
Although the KJV is a harder, more obscure construction, it rings in my head like the largest bell in the carrillon. For others, other translations will work better. Whichever translation works for you, let it ring in your head and sound in your heart. And as you converse with Him whom you do not see but know to be real, rejoice in the opportunity. Every spare moment spend in a moment of thanks, remembering Him. Every working moment, work for Him. Do the task before you as though through it you could save Him a moment of suffering. Everything you do, start by looking at Him, loving Him, and talking to Him. For your family, for yourself, for your community, for your Church, for your employer, start every endeavor in love, and complete this love with rejoicing in the Person whom you love. Work will not be work; nothing you do will ever be enough if you do it in His presence for Him. You will never be alone.
Rejoice in the God who saves, in the God who loves, in the God who cares enough to tell us over and over and over again that we are His beloved children.
No task begun in sight of Him, continuing in Him, and completed in His joy has gone to waste. None of the things we think of as laborious and time-wasting are so if we are in Him. He is the God among the pots and pans, the teaching and the dirty diapers, the soccer matches and the dance recitals, the bill-paying and the floor scrubbing, the lawn-mowing and the 8 hours of wage-drudgery. He has given us our livelihood and our lives and rejoicing in Him exalts any task.
"Yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. . ." May joy unspeakable be your companion today.
I love the thought, "Every working moment, work for Him. Do the task before you as though through it you could save Him a moment of suffering." What a generous response of love we could give Him for all He gives to us.
I have a Rosary CD that I pray along with while driving to work. In the Glorious Mysteries, the narrator relates that everything Mary did was for Him, the cooking, the scrubbing, all the seemingly insignificant toil, caring for her own, caring for her neighbors, all of it was for Him. I more often than not fail in applying this to my own life, finding myself grumbling only yesterday. Thanks very much for the reminder.
Thank you for some unexpected and lovely encouragement. I saw your site listed on your profile at LibraryThing; curious, because we share a fair number of books. Though I am, myself, Protestant, the entry is one with which I wholeheartedly agree: a reminder of great value - and beauty - for every Christian; for every day.
Often as I now turn to NIV, I have to agree that King James remains most resonant for me.
Dear Eurydice,
Thanks so much for stopping by. I glanced at your collection, and when I'm through, you'll find that we share a great many more books than are currently represented. (I haven't put a dent in my collection of mysteries--so all of Agatha Christie, all of Rex Stout, all of John Dickson Carr (or most) have yet to be catalogued.)
But I'm glad you found a welcome here, and I am deeply appreciative of and gratified by your words.
shalom,
Steven