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—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 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 your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor 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 an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:3-9)
There is so much in these verses that I had to include them all. Here are the things that stood out to me…
1. We have a living hope…because of God’s great mercy, our new birth, and Christ’s resurrection from the dead. I just read a poll in the newspaper that said that many people fear that 2007 will bring a terrorist attack or some other major disaster. It is easy to let these kinds of thoughts dominate our thinking. Peter encourages us to remember that no matter what happens in this world we can rejoice because of the living hope we have in Christ.
2. We are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. God is in control and we are never out of His sight or unprotected in this world.
3. We will suffer grief in all kinds of trials while on this earth. Being shielded by God does not mean that we will never experience difficulty or pain. God shields our souls…and He uses trials to purify our faith. It is the heat that removes impurities from metal. And, in the same way, God allows us to go through tough times to teach us to depend more and more on Him.
Those three truths are a pretty good reminder for the start of 2007. We will have trials this year but we can still rejoice because we know that every trial has a purpose, that God is still in control, and that we have a living hope in Jesus Christ.