1 Peter - This letter was written when the church was under constant threat; when the benediction was spoken in a whisper because everyone knew when they gathered again someone likely would be missing, caught up in the cleansing, deportations, and imprisonment.
Questions began to be raised in the communities of faith. Should we go underground? Should we hide? Would it be safer to pretend we aren’t saved by grace through faith? Should we act as though we weren’t asked to pray for our enemies and pray for those who persecute us because it’s risky and darned hard? The question was, “Should our faith move inside: inside our heads, inside our hearts” Should it be a personal faith that keeps us safe and warm where it really matters in the imaginations of our inner life? This was the question Peter set out to answer in this letter.
We’d need to study the whole letter to get all the answer, but we can catch a glimpse of Peter’s spirit even in these opening verses. A new birth, that’s our gift. A new life not based on our merits, not earned by the sweat of our brows, but by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And now that gift is ours. And nothing can diminish it. Nothing can snatch it out of our grasp. But it is ours. As sure as the air we breathe. As sure as the light we see. As sure as the hope in our hearts. It is ours, this gift of life. This way of seeing ourselves and all of creation around us. It is ours.
Raise A Hallelujah
Blessed Assurance
The Wonderful Cross
Stronger
We All Bow Down
Love The Lord