Monday, October 26, 2009

In Safe-keeping

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, uncorrupted, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” (1 Peter 1:3-4)

The Lord has given us a new birth. This birth came from a womb that was actually a tomb. It was life from death, a huge paradox. Its pre-requisite was the death of Jesus on the cross, and its means was the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Apart from this resurrection, there is no life for us. There is existence, but there is no real life without the fact and truth of the resurrection of Jesus. Everything we believe and stand for is totally dependent on the resurrection, and we come to this truth and to this experience of new birth through personal faith. Our new birth has two wonderful characteristics.

First, it is characterized by a living hope. In our future there is a certainty of eternal life. That is what the concept of hope in the New Testament means. This hope we have is alive, meaning that life is inherent in it and that it makes us alive and challenges us to live with hope and move constantly toward hope.

Second, our new birth is characterized as an inheritance. But this is not just any ordinary kind of inheritance. This kind has the hallmarks of eternity. It is imperishable. It cannot be corrupted. It is unfading. Maybe this is part of what Jesus meant when He taught us to lay up treasures for ourselves in heaven where neither moth, nor rust, nor thieves can destroy it. This inheritance is kept safe and secure for us in heaven, and toward it we move, like a river flowing its course toward the sea.

Lord, We thank You for this new birth which has already begun with our response of faith in You. And so we move forward in this life in the hope we have in our future with You. Amen.

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