“Praise 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, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.” – 1 Peter 1:3-4 (NIV)
Peter begins his letter praising God the Father, as well as Jesus, and then reminding the readers of God’s great mercy: that through the resurrection of Jesus, Christians have been born again. Peter moves on to say that because of this, all followers of Jesus are given a “living hope”.
I love the wording “living hope.”
Just as the Word of God is living and active in us, so too should our hope be alive and active in our day-to-day. The hope we have calls us to action. To live out fully what we believe because our foundation is rooted in Truth. A living hope, reflecting that the spiritual rebirth wasn’t from empty words in a one-time prayer, but a transformation that has changed everything about our life. The gift of being born-again allows us to have a definitive view of what is to be dead in us and what has been made new. A perspective that gives sight to health and purpose, in contrast to what will perish, spoil and fade away. Living hope that we see tangibly in our present life, as the Holy Spirit leads, teaches, and corrects us.
A living hope that leads us on a path to understanding True Love, that will one day come to full fruition as we enter through Heaven’s gates and see Jesus face to face. What a glorious day that will be, when, through all of life’s ups and downs we will arrive before the One who gave his life for us. The very One who conquered death, leaving behind an empty tomb as a reminder of the promise that through Him what once was dead now lives. This hope that we hold brings about what lasts… what’s eternal. Living hope that leads us to our inheritance. Jesus Christ himself is our beautiful inheritance!
Let’s praise Him today for the living hope that we have. He deserves it all!
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