Lent 2023 Day 34: Sat 1 Apr
1 Peter 1.20-25
He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For,
“All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.”
And this is the word that was preached to you.
It was not some whim of God after he created the world to choose his Son, The Word, for a mission to our planet. It was not as a reaction to the state of the world that God sent Jesus. God had chosen this even before light was created. The whole creation was formed with incarnation, suffering and death in mind. It was created for Jesus. As we grasp this truth we can look afresh at that which surrounds us, our environment, our history, our future.
Now what would you consider to be the important things you’d write to a new church? Sort out your structures and balance your budgets? Prepare your policies? Plan your programmes? Peter doesn’t dwell on structure, but the simple fundamentals – you are redeemed, you are purified. Now love one another. Really love one another. If there’s someone in your fellowship who’s not very loveable, then consider him or her to be a grindstone for the sharpening of your love. Expect nothing back, for Christ dying on a cross was an act of love that was poured out freely.
Human life is perishable. All creation is perishable. We see flowers fade in the annual cycles. Nothing is permanent. We may not think too deeply about the eventual extinction of the sun, but it, too, is doomed. It will have no purpose in the new creation. New Life in Christ is imperishable – it goes beyond our human existence. All that lasts in this creation is the word of the Lord. Perhaps we might value its truth more highly and proclaim it in a world that is going to pot.
Who do you need to love in your church fellowship?
How do you apply the truth that you are born again to your earthly life?
How will you approach tending your garden?
What are you expecting once your human life perishes?
Father God, salvation was in your heart before creation began. Everything created not only speaks of your glory, but also reveals flecks of Christ’s passion. I stand amazed at what you have created. Amen.
Paul