Day 970 · Year 3 · The Great Tradition
Edwards on the heart as the test
A New England pastor asked what real faith feels like.
Today's passage
1 Peter 1:8-9
8Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
9now that you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Berean Standard Bible · public domain
Reflection
Jonathan Edwards lived through a religious revival and asked a hard question afterward: how do you tell real conversion from emotional spike? His answer, the size of a book, comes down to this — real faith engages the affections, not just the intellect. Peter says the same: those who have not seen Christ 'love him,' and 'rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.' If your faith has gone cold and informational, you are not alone. Ask God to warm the affections again. Joy in Christ is not the icing on the gospel; it is part of the cake.
From the great tradition · paraphrased
Jonathan Edwards · Puritans & Post-Reformation · 18th c. · New England
Jonathan Edwards held that real faith touches the affections — not as sentimentality, but as the heart's actual love for the beauty of God in Christ.
Paraphrase only. Scripture, not any teacher, is the authority.
Think it through
- What two things does Peter say about believers' relationship to Christ?
- What is the difference between sentiment and affection?
- Where do you need God to warm a cold or merely intellectual faith?
A prayer to pray
Ask God to warm your affections again. Pray to actually love what you say you believe.