Monday Reading: 1 Peter 1:3-9
Key Verse: 1 Peter 1:6
6 in which you greatly rejoice, yet a little while, if need be, grieving in manifold temptations;
Devotion:
How many times have you read a letter and kind of skipped past the first few sentences to try and find the ‘good stuff’? Have you then gone back over the letter and found just how much is usually in those first few sentences? In this epistle we find so much to think about in our first few sentences that it definitely has to be read over again more carefully. The theme has got to be our faith, our living hope, our eternal gift. It should not be read as something that we might have if we hope hard enough, but something that we have because we have believed in the beginning!
Key Verse: 1 Peter 1:6
6 in which you greatly rejoice, yet a little while, if need be, grieving in manifold temptations;
Devotion:
How many times have you read a letter and kind of skipped past the first few sentences to try and find the ‘good stuff’? Have you then gone back over the letter and found just how much is usually in those first few sentences? In this epistle we find so much to think about in our first few sentences that it definitely has to be read over again more carefully. The theme has got to be our faith, our living hope, our eternal gift. It should not be read as something that we might have if we hope hard enough, but something that we have because we have believed in the beginning!
Because Christ went to that cross, we have hope. That hope is not just for anyone who is a Christian, but for everybody! It does not mean that we all get a free ticket to heaven, but it does mean that we all have access to that free ticket if we are willing to just pick it up! Can you imagine being told that you had a free ticket to fly anywhere in the world for free (and being assured that it was not a gimmick)? Would you think twice about going to pick up that sort of gift? Our hope has not died with Jesus on that cross, but lives forever because Christ rose from the grave. That hope continues to live until He returns without any strings attached.
It does not mean that we will have a group of body guards who will protect us from everything thereafter for we still live in a corrupt world where we are tempted and where we go astray. But it does mean that we no longer have to fear ever not getting our prize because it does not depend on us having to maintain or do anything after we have been saved. Nobody can take that gift away from us, no matter what trial they may push in our way, we no longer have to fear ever loosing that gift. God may well allow some of those trials to get through to us to reinforce our faith when it begins to dwindle, or even to reinforce someone else’s faith when theirs begins to dwindle. Every trial will be for a purpose, but none can ever separate us from our God!
Points to Ponder:
How many times do you read letters just to make sure you don’t miss things?
How many times do you read letters just to make sure you don’t miss things?
How much do you read God’s Word so that you don’t miss things?