To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, 2who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood:
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
Praise to God for a Living Hope
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Though 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, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.10Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
Feeling down? Grab 1 Peter 1:1-12.
This passage speaks hope into even the bleakest of bleak: me. I am skating on thin ice as it comes down to these last 3 weeks of the semester. I have 5 culmulative finals that affect my grade either way. Scary huh?
But this passage, mere words spoken about our Lord Jesus Christ helped brighten up my night. "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!" indeed.
Verse 3 starts off by promising us a new hope through Jesus Christ. Verse 4 promises an inheritance in Heaven that can never disappear. Verse 5 promises us God's protection until the end of our days.
Sometimes life feels so hopeless. I am not the smartest of people and tend to have a hard time expressing myself. School is getting repetitive and it is really difficult at times to see through the benefits of all of this so called suffering. The list of complains go on, but as i ponder more and more about this, I can't help but to remember the Living Hope that I have trusted my life to.
Because Jesus has died on the cross for us, we are already promised salvation if we believe. Yet by acting this way, am I at fault for not believing that Jesus has died for me?
Verse 7 - "These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold... may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." We have to remain faithful and remember all we have is His and all He has has been given to us; for we are truly recieving salvation, the gift of God.
Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment