{"id":36053,"date":"2026-11-14T04:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-11-14T04:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.bibleportal.com\/?p=36053"},"modified":"2026-11-14T04:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-11-14T04:18:08","slug":"loving-someone-we-have-never-seen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.bibleportal.com\/zh\/loving-someone-we-have-never-seen\/","title":{"rendered":"Loving Someone We Have Never Seen"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Loving<\/figure>\n
\n

Though you have not seen him, you love him. <\/em>\u2014 1 Peter 1:8<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Into the Word<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Peter had seen nearly everything. He watched Jesus heal the sick and heard Him teach. He saw Him arrested, denied Him that same night, and then saw Him alive again. Few people have had more reason to love Jesus by sight.<\/p>\n

The first readers of this letter had none of that. They were believers scattered across Asia Minor (1 Pet. 1:1), hundreds of miles from Galilee, and most had come to faith years after the resurrection. Yet Peter writes, \u201cThough you have not seen him, you love him\u201d<\/strong> (1 Pet. 1:8). He does not urge them to try harder to love someone they cannot see. He tells them they already do.<\/p>\n

Before the Sun Came Up<\/strong><\/h4>\n

According to John\u2019s Gospel, the first person to see the risen Jesus was Mary Magdalene. She went to the tomb early on the first day of the week, \u201cwhile it was still dark\u201d<\/strong> (John 20:1). Jesus had been executed as a criminal under Roman authority. That same evening His disciples met behind locked doors because they were afraid (John 20:19). Being seen mourning at His grave could mark her as one of His followers, and that was not safe.<\/p>\n

Mary went anyway. She found the stone rolled away and the body gone, and she stood outside the tomb weeping. When a man she took for the gardener asked why she was crying, she begged him, \u201ctell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away\u201d<\/strong> (John 20:15). She did not say how she would manage to carry Him. She only wanted to be near Him.<\/p>\n

She had come expecting a body, and she loved Him still. Then Jesus spoke her name, and she knew Him (John 20:16). Her love brought her to the tomb before she knew He was alive.<\/p>\n

Unless I See<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Thomas was not with the others when Jesus first appeared to them. When they told him, he refused to accept it. Unless he could see the nail marks and put his hand into Jesus\u2019 side, he said, \u201cI will never believe\u201d<\/strong> (John 20:25).<\/p>\n

A week later Jesus stood among them again and invited Thomas to touch His wounds. Thomas answered, \u201cMy Lord and my God!\u201d<\/strong> (John 20:28). Then Jesus spoke past him to everyone who would come after: \u201cBlessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed\u201d<\/strong> (John 20:29). The disciples were gathered in that room, and Peter was very likely among them.<\/p>\n

The Man Who Was Asked Three Times<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Peter\u2019s own turn came later, on a beach by the Sea of Galilee. Jesus asked him the same question three times: \u201cDo you love me?\u201d<\/strong> (John 21:17). Peter had denied Him three times. By the third question, John tells us, Peter was grieved.<\/p>\n

Years later, the man who had to be asked whether he loved Jesus writes to strangers and tells them plainly that they love Him. Peter knew how badly love can fail even with Jesus standing in front of you. Perhaps that is part of why it moved him to find love in people who had never seen Jesus, and why he passes on the blessing he heard in that locked room.<\/p>\n

Until We See Him<\/strong><\/h4>\n

How did these believers come to love Jesus at all? Peter answers later in the chapter: they had been born again \u201cthrough the living and abiding word of God\u201d<\/strong> (1 Pet. 1:23). They met Jesus the way we do, through His word, carried to them by others who believed.<\/p>\n

Peter knew this love would be tested. He compares their faith to gold put through fire, and he says the testing will prove it genuine \u201cat the revelation of Jesus Christ\u201d<\/strong> (1 Pet. 1:7). The one they love without seeing will one day be seen.<\/p>\n

Before We Move On<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

What we know of Jesus came to us through pages and people: a Bible read again and again, a parent or a friend who believed and told us. Sometimes we wonder whether a love that began that way really counts.<\/p>\n

Our love may not look like Mary\u2019s. We may never hurry to a grave in the dark for Him. Yet her love began where ours does, before she knew He had risen. Peter, who saw everything, does not treat our kind of love as a lesser one. Jesus called those who believe without seeing blessed, and Peter says this love comes with a joy too deep for words.<\/p>\n

We have not seen Him yet. Peter would say we love Him already, and one day we will see the One we love.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Selah<\/span><\/strong><\/em> (\u05e1\u05b6\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4)<\/span><\/h4>\n

Stay here for a moment.<\/p>\n

You have never seen Jesus, yet you love Him, and He calls you blessed.<\/p>\n

Stay with that.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


A Prayer<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

Lord Jesus,<\/p>\n

I have never seen Your face. I know You through Your word and through people who loved You before I did. Some days my love feels small beside the love of Mary, who came to Your tomb in the dark.<\/p>\n

Thank You that You did not wait until I could see You before You called my faith blessed<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Like Peter, I have failed You, and still You ask whether I love You. Ask me again, and make my answer true.<\/p>\n

When my faith is tested, refine it like gold in the fire. Keep me until the day You are revealed<\/strong> and I see You face to face.<\/p>\n

In the name of Jesus, who called Mary by name and calls me still. Amen.<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a9 2026 Bible Portal<\/a>. Free to share with attribution. Please keep the source and a link to Bible Portal<\/a> intact. For other uses, contact us<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Original source: Loving Someone We Have Never Seen \u2014 Bible Portal Insights<\/a><\/p>\n

Want to read more? Visit Bible Portal Insights<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Though you have not seen him, you love him. \u2014 1 Peter 1… \u7ee7\u7eed\u9605\u8bfbLoving Someone We Have Never Seen<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":36052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1166,3563,3],"tags":[6463,6464,6459,6462,1536],"class_list":["post-36053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-bread","category-devotionals-en","category-inspirational","tag-doubting-thomas","tag-faith-without-sight","tag-first-peter","tag-loving-jesus-unseen","tag-mary-magdalene","entry"],"source":"","bible_verses":"","article_author":"","external_link":"","topic_post":[],"topic":"","video_duration":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.bibleportal.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.bibleportal.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.bibleportal.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.bibleportal.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.bibleportal.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36053"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms.bibleportal.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36054,"href":"https:\/\/cms.bibleportal.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36053\/revisions\/36054"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.bibleportal.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.bibleportal.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.bibleportal.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.bibleportal.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}