Our Living Hope

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.”- 1 Peter 1:3-4a

 

         Any hope that we may have in the future as believers is derived from God. That hope is manifested in the resurrection of Jesus. If God can raise Christ from the dead, then how alive must we be when we receive our new birth from Him. It should be without question that any and all praise would go to our Heavenly Father and Almighty God for this great and unfathomable mercy. We did absolutely nothing to deserve it. 

 

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.” - Ephesians 2:8-9

 

          God’s grace: His undeserved favor, has given us a new birth. This living hope is nonperishable. It is permanent and everlasting. Through the promises that appear throughout the Bible, we can have a confident expectation of future blessing. Our inheritance is not a temporal thing. Temporal things rot or decay and their resulting dust is blown away by the wind. Anything God gives us can and will “never perish, spoil or fade”. Therein lies our future. Therein lies our promise that gives us the resultant hope - a new birth; a second chance. 

Our faith in God has produced this marvelous reality for us. Our new birth has cleansed us from any and all sin. Our separation from God has been removed. Our acceptance of His loving merciful forgiveness through Christ’s death on the cross has provided our bridge to salvation and a new life. This is our inheritance – salvation. Freedom from sin; freedom not to sin again, but to allow God to change us into all He knows we can be in this life from the inside out. We were created with a purpose in mind. That purpose wasn’t to live as we choose, even though that is our option. That purpose is to live for God and magnify His name. In exchange we would live in peace and harmony having all our needs met. We buck at that. We have the propensity to want our own way. This is why we were given a free will to choose which way we live the life we have been given. God wants us to worship Him of our own free will and not as a requirement. It’s our choice to make. What choice will you make? Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing.

Richard Keller

Bread of Life Ministries