Imperishable Inheritance

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Opening Prayer

Lord Jesus, I desire to love You perfectly, yet I don’t always tilt towards You with a deep and lasting devotion. Purify my heart.

Read 1 Peter 1:1-12

^[1] Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, ^[2] who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. ^[3] 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, ^[4] and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, ^[5] 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. ^[6] In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ^[7] 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 honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ^[8] 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, ^[9] for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. ^[10] Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, ^[11] 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. ^[12] It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told 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.

Meditate

“God, who knows all about us, wants us to know him. He is the God of all hope. With hope he created us to know and love him, and Christ came to provide the lasting basis of our hope” (Lloyd John Ogilvie). Thank God for his mercy towards us!

Think Further

When we become Christians we are born into the “living hope” (3) that Peter describes here. By “hope” Peter does not mean something we merely wish for or would like to happen in the future. It is much more definite than that. It is our inheritance–our new birthright–preserved for us and indestructible. The hope is of eternal life with God, made possible through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

It takes real faith to focus on this hope when we are going through periods of struggle and difficulty. Peter is aware that Christians may well have to face all kinds of sorrow, yet he believes this need not defeat our faith; it can refine it. Often it is through the experience of suffering that we find out what our faith is worth. The challenge is not to become bitter or defeated but to stay connected with God. I listened to a pastor’s wife in the Sudan, whose husband and sons had been savagely murdered. She wept, distressed and distraught as she shared her grief and desolation, but she was also able to speak of her faith and her trust in the love and goodness of God in the midst of sin and evil. It was a powerful echo of the hope that Peter writes of.

Our hope in Christ’s salvation links us through the centuries to millions of believers who have gone before. It connects us with the prophets who saw the coming of Christ and the sufferings he would endure, even before the incarnation had taken place. God’s revelation to them through the power of the Holy Spirit was for all of us who have followed since. It is indeed a wonderful inheritance to share, and to know that God keeps it safe for each one of us.

Apply

Is suffering creating a barrier between you and God? How can you pour comfort and hope into the lives of those who are suffering?

Closing prayer

Father God, thank You for Christ’s death and resurrection. Because of his victory, I am confident in Your enabling power to address daily problems and challenges.

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