"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls."
--I Peter 1: 3-9 Hope. Peter understands hope. After greeting the elect exiles, hope is the first thing Peter wants to talk about. Perhaps Peter has such a grasp on hope because he knows what it is like to fail, to be restored, to suffer, and to live knowing that more suffering is coming. He has seen the beauty that God can bring from the mess we humans tend to make. He has experienced a great mercy and that experience has done the work it should: it's taken his eyes off of the immediate and placed them on the eternal. And hope has come rushing in. Peter's hope is a living hope. When Christ conquered death, he declared that life is found in him. Hope is alive because Christ is alive. Our hope also makes us more alive. Like the air we breathe, hope fills our being and nourishes us. It clears our mind and expands the boundaries of our hearts. Peter's hope is a future hope. So much of life on earth consists of things and experiences that perish, defile and fade. The constant dying hurts. The defilement leaves us broken. The fading of things we once saw as beautiful makes us wonder "what was the point?" But oh, heaven is coming and soon the perishable will become imperishable, the defiled will be made pure, the faded will be restored to perfect beauty. We aren't there yet, but we know it's just around the corner. Hope will be made manifest, and it won't be long. Peter's hope is a powerful hope. Peter knew what it meant for life to fall apart. Christ had told him to stay awake in the garden and he had failed. Then things went downhill from there. The arrest, the prophesied denial, the crucifixion, the falling apart of all that he thought was. But yet, there was the guarding, powerful hand of God. Peter's hope failed in those hours, but did eternal hope? No, God was right there keeping Peter, guarding his soul, letting him fail only enough for him to put his hope where it should be. God was orchestrating a powerful salvation that would open the doors for that same power to be planted deeply in the hearts of his children made of dust. Peter's hope is a rejoicing hope. The Christian life doesn't involve pasting a smile on and appearing happy. Christians face real trials; we were never promised an easy path to walk. A day is coming when joy will require no effort because sin will be no more. But we aren't there yet. Today is full of hard, sometimes it is crushingly hard to the point that you labor to take the next step. But we can have joy, because we know the end of the story. We know that Christ will win and we will reign with him forever. And further, even our immediate struggles are being redeemed and are given gold-like value. Nothing is wasted in God's economy. Believing that moves us way beyond a pasted on smile straight into a deep hope-filled joy. This living, future, powerful, rejoicing hope of Peter's is ours too and because of it we can praise and glorify the Hope-Giver. When other persons fail us and only manage to contribute to the perishable, defiled, and fading, we can, with the eyes of faith, look beyond and see that the person of Christ is not like that. And, when, like Peter, I fail and only manage to contribute to the perishable, defiled and fading, I can still look to the person of Christ and know that he is not like me. Unlike the naturally loveless and trust-less hearts of mankind, Christ loves and loves well. And we can earnestly love him in return and trust him to keep us and keep us well. This truly is the outcome of our faith and the salvation of our souls.
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"Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you." --I Peter 1:1-3 When we were suddenly displaced from our home in Uganda and we moved back to our passport country, we were keenly aware that we weren’t home. It still causes wonder in my heart to ponder how much we feel displaced. We’re living in the house I grew up in. The other day, I even absentmindedly walked into my childhood bedroom when I was intending to go to my room! I keep telling myself that it seems like it should be easier to make this space home. But realistically, it’s going to take a while. But I’m thankful for this time. It’s a gift to feel like an exile for a bit. Our immediate exile has become a sharp reminder of our Christ-following exile. We just went through Peter’s letters for family devotions. The wonder of trials is that so much of Scripture washes over my soul in fresh ways. Being pressed in by the world helps press out new insights…so many things that I would have never noticed if it weren’t for the new eyesight that the hard has brought. What I saw the other night was this: Peter wrote to the elect exiles: people who weren’t at home where they lived. Peter’s exiles did have a home, it just wasn’t in Asia Minor. They had a heavenly residence that wasn’t theirs…yet. The hope for us is that, because of Christ, we’re on the same path as Peter’s exiles. Their comfort is our comfort as we travel, and the comfort is this: the path we’re on is directed according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Yup. God ordained this journey of ours. It’s not merely the choices of others that put us on this path, ultimately it was the choice of my heavenly Father. Why would he do that to us? So we could be sanctified, or made ready for our new home. So we would learn obedience to our Savior, and so we could glory in the Christ’s work on the cross that makes us ready to reach heaven. Every step of this past year has been under the foreknowledge of God the Father. Every step has been for our sanctification in the Spirit. Every step has brought greater obedience to Christ. And every step has brought more glory to Christ’s finished work on the cross as we have been continually made more fit for heaven. As much as we don’t always like feeling our “home-lessness,” when it gets down to it, it’s been a stimulus for grace and peace being multiplied to us. And for that, I think we will remain continually thankful as we live out our days as exiles and, all the more, as we move to our real home for all of eternity. |
Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19 Archives
August 2020
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