Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 Peter 1:3-5 (NASB)
A few more thoughts here:
1. "Has caused us to be born again." Our regeneration and new life in Christ is caused by the work of God. It is really nothing at all to our credit that we've been born again, any more than a child really chooses their own birthday. Somehow, in His mercy, God has made the starting effort to bring us to Him.
2. "To a living hope." Not a dead hope, not a passive hope, but a living hope. I'm taking this, personally, as a comfort that the hope we have in Christ is not just static, but able to fill whatever void we're feeling in our hearts. We're not handed a hope that only hits one point. True, it's based in eternity, but the hope spreads from there to replace false hopes in current lifetimes. I should be allowing the living hope from God to grow and replace the hopes I've pinned on earthly sources.
3. "An inheritance." You don't gain an inheritance without someone's death. And it's not yours by your own virtue, but rather by the decedent's gift. We have the advantage of both, though: Christ's death bought us our inheritance, yet He lives still! And we shall come into the fullness of our inheritance when we've died.
4. "Protected by the power of God." Realize something important here: We are not saved by the strength of our faith. In fact, based on Ephesians 2:8-9, we're saved by faith that is the gift of God. So, our salvation and inheritance are good as long as God's power is intact. So is His work in perfecting us to the image and likeness of Christ.
That's where I am going through Peter today and for the past few days. More to come, hopefully at a quicker pace!
Doug
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