Please go back to the beginning and read it again, slowly, and thoughtfully. Done that? Good! When I read it recently I thought about how much it speaks to us today. Let’s face it! We can’t get away from the situation that surrounds us. Our ‘world’ has changed; almost every facet of life has become a challenge. If ever there was a time when we need encouragement, it is now.
Peter wrote this letter to people who were in dire straits. He is writing to ‘pilgrims’; Christians who had been ‘scattered’ through persecution. He describes what they were going through as suffering “grief in all kinds of trials”. In chapter four verse twelve he calls it a “fiery trial”.
Although our particular ‘trial’ may not be ‘fiery’; it certainly is frustrating; even confusing, and Peter’s word to them is God’s word to us. Praise God; day by day we can praise Him. Because of His great mercy, we are ‘born again’ into a hope-filled life. It is a hope that is based on the truth that Jesus rose from the dead, and that “because He lives, we shall live also” – John 14 v19.
Hebrews 6 v19 calls this hope an “anchor of the soul”; it is a hope that is “both sure and steadfast” and that links us to heaven. Remember too that it is Peter who refers to this hope as ‘living’. Peter knew what it was to have his hope restored when he had almost lost it! He is known as the ‘Apostle of Hope’. So let’s praise God for a hope that is alive. A hope that is based on God’s mercy, activated by Christ’s resurrection, and expressed by our praise.
Be blessed as you give thanks for your Living Hope,
Eddie.