#DailyDevotion We Have Been Given A Living Hope
1 Peter 13Let us praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who by raising Jesus Christ from the dead has in His great mercy given us a new birth so that we have a living hope 4for an inheritance that isn’t destroyed or defiled and never fades away, as it is kept for you in heaven. 5And through faith you are protected by God’s power until you come to the salvation that is waiting to be revealed at the end of time.
Let us praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God the Father does indeed deserve our praise not only because he is God but because he is a God who is kind and merciful to us in Christ Jesus. He could have destroyed us and tortured us for not worshipping him and doing what he commands. But instead he sends his only begotten son into the flesh to be the sacrifice for our sin. He not only offers Jesus to be the sacrifice for our sin but he also raised Jesus from the dead so we may know his great mercy.
You see Jesus has been joined to all humanity when he took on human flesh. Just as Adam in his flesh by his actions affected all of humanity so too when the Son of God takes on human flesh the actions of his in the flesh affect all of humanity. Jesus rising from the dead affects us all in that all flesh shall one day too because of Christ be raised from the dead. But more than that, by raising Jesus from the dead in his great mercy the Father raises us to a new birth from above. Through baptism we are joined with the saving work of Jesus. As Paul tells us in Romans 6 we are crucified, dead, buried and raised to newness of life in Christ Jesus being baptized into Jesus’ name. As Jesus tells Nicodemus in John 3 we are born from above by the water and the Spirit.
This gives us a living hope. Living water is water that moves like a stream or a river. It doesn’t get stagnant. So too our hope is one that is moving and doesn’t get stagnant. It moves us towards God the Father in love and confidence. It moves us toward our neighbor in love and service. It is not inwardly seeking but always seeking the good of the other. Living water is oxygenated. A living hope is spirited. It is full of the Spirit conforming our thoughts, words and deeds to God the Father’s holy will.
We have a hope for an inheritance that “isn’t destroyed or defiled and never fades away, as it is kept for you in heaven.” Our inheritance is the kingdom of God. It is the resurrected body like Jesus’ resurrected boy. Our inheritance is God’s righteousness, his holiness, his wisdom, his might and his glory. These things cannot be destroyed or defiled. They can never fade away.
Through this faith, that is trusting that such promises are indeed ours in Christ Jesus, we are protected by God’s power until it is revealed to the world on the Last Day, i.e. we are God’s sons in glory. (Rom. 8) The faith which trust this is a gift of God created by the promises of God. We know that God says must come to pass. His word is creating power bringing into existence that which is not. So too, the new life he promises us is created in us through the power of his word in baptism and it is preserved by God through the faith he gives us in the word.
O Great and Merciful God and Father, you gave us new life in your son Jesus Christ in the waters of baptism into a living hope. Preserve us now in this hope and so move us by your life giving Spirit to love and praise you, serve and love our neighbor. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.