Devotion

Hope

In 1 Peter 1: 3 - 12, we read of the great praise we can give to God for our living hope in Jesus and the salvation that we enjoy in Him. It is a reasonably long passage for a newsletter devotion, but one worth sharing! It also happens to be one of my very favourite Bible passages, so was a natural one to choose for my first newsletter devotion! 

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. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this, you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though 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 inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told to 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.

In this part of the Bible, Peter is writing to Christians about living in a Christian way, and with hope against a background of persecution for Christians at that time, which is still relevant for us today. We see the way that the hope we share in Jesus is a real one, and the way that our faith, as it keeps on growing and developing, helps us have a stronger and stronger love of Jesus, even without having seen Him. 

It is a reminder that even in times where we might face different kinds of challenges in our lives, that because of the hope we have in Jesus, we can be joyful and fill our lives with acts of kindness and mercy, and labours of love; giving, caring for and serving others.

What an amazing thing for us to reflect on at the start of a new year that all the writers in the New Testament have complete confidence in Jesus. Peter calls our Christian hope and our salvation a "living hope" because it is based on Jesus' resurrection and it is with us today. It shows that Jesus' work is complete. We receive both the word and the assurance that it is true. 

We are privileged to serve with Golden Grove Lutheran Church in sharing, celebrating and giving thanks for this great living hope in this wonderful place.

Let's enjoy sharing in the glorious joy of life and hope in Jesus together as a community. 

Blessings,

Will