Read I Peter 1:3-5
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
In his great mercy He has given us new birth…” (v3)
Some Thoughts…
Because of what God has done, not what I have done, I am born into a new existence; a new family; a new future and a new present. “God caused us to be born” is the literal translation. He has done it! And offers this new life to anyone who will stop long enough to receive it…but what exactly am I born into?
· I’m born into a living hope, because Jesus is living and not dead. I live daily with a living Savior who is alive in me in the form of His Holy Spirit…My outlook is motivated by this reality. My restoration is driven by His living presence in me. I have nothing to fear, no one to impress with a contrived façade that is not me. I’m alive and will live on beyond this reality because of Him — and when I take hold of that truth, and I allow it to take hold of me, my soul wells up and my life praises God, weather I use words or not.
But that is not all – I’m born into an inheritance that cannot be diminished by the ebbs and flows of economic inconsistencies, or passing fads, or the latest publically endorsed lifestyle. There is something so much better that is being kept secure for me; better than the best things I can know now. This is something eternal and wonderfully unimaginable that God has waiting for me at the end of this broken earthly journey (see Romans 8:1 ff). I am His adopted child, a child of the King…and there is an inheritance that is mine and it is now ready for me, but I’m not ready for it yet. So, I keep walking in this living hope…waiting with anticipation.
But, I realize something else as I read Peter’s words: Not only is this amazing inheritance being kept secure for me, I am being kept secure for it by God’s indescribable and unexplainable power… Peter says the saved “are shielded by God’s power” (v 5). Literally this speaks of a guardian or a protective custody. I am “kept under guard” by God’s power…a power that does not look like humanity’s power. It whispers instead of shouts, it hides in a field waiting to be found, It speaks through “foolish” prophets of old and makes little sense to an economy of “me first” and “more is better”. I am secured by God, not by my abilities…so I rest in that truth… I take comfort in that reality when praise is hard to come by and hope seems hopeless.
I must own up to my new life – Born anew:
Now Not yet, but already
A Living Hope An Eternal Inheritance
A Prayer…
Father, I am living from a heart of hopelessness way too much…forgive me. Help me to see the true reality of my life – a new life – re-born in You, and by Your power! Fill me with Your Living Hope today and when things seem dark, help me feel your powerful hand holding me still, safe, and secure for eternity. Amen.