He is Better Than You Think

Sabina and I are currently reading through Peter's 1st letter (on our own, but talking together Wednesday morning) ... we read the first chapter together at Starbucks to get started and what a beautiful way to start!

See, Peter talks much in this letter about setting ourselves apart in the way we live our lives. It is filled with grace, but also a challenge and a charge.

However, before he even starts his discussion on what WE are to do ... he first talks about who HE is!

Starting in verse 13, we have a transition ... a "therefore" ... leading into the rest of his letter.

Yet it's the verses before this that help prepare us for what he is about to call us to ...

1 Peter 1:3-12 is a passage I plan to try to commit to memory ... it's a longer passage than I usually include in my journaling, but sit with this for a moment ... here it is ...

'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. Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. ' - 1 Peter 1:3-12

What a promise!

We read about being born again, through a living hope ... the promise of resurrection ... an inheritance in heaven (for us personally!) that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading ... that if trials are necessary, they will refine our faith, and bring God glory, praise, and honor ... a promise of joy inexpressible ... a declaration of the outcome of our faith, our salvation!

Then it ends with a reminder that something that the prophets spoke of we now have, something so beautiful and precious, the gospel ... that even the angels long to look and see this for themselves ...

Then ... we get it ... the "therefore" ...

What a powerful reminder, whenever we are about to step out in our faith, to first ponder what (and Who) we are stepping out for ... and what we have already been given, that should fuel our stepping out even more!

No matter where you are on your journey ... He is better and more than you could ever think ...