Recap: In this world there are 2 options I have. One, Imma
be a child of God. Two, Imma be a stranger to Him.
If I am a stranger to Him then I
spend eternity without His love and with His full wrath and punishment because
of my decision to reject him.
If I choose to be His child then I
must follow His commands. He commands us to love him and love others. There is
a command to Be Holy as He is Holy (Leviticus 11:44-45, 19:2, 1 Peter 1:15).
Holiness is a characteristic of God indicating that which is sacred. In the
human context it means freedom from sin and dedication to God.
Part one from 1 Peter 1:13 we learned to “prepare our mind
for action.” We did so by PREP-ing: PurgeReviseEngagePractice.
Part two from the same verse we discovered, rediscovered, or
maybe grew in our self-control. We learned that we must stop TRYING and begin
to change the way we think. It is necessary for us to accept God’s grace and
live for him. This takes us back to week one and once again we find ourselves
needing to “Prepare our minds for action.”
So Part 3 in the 13th verse of 1 Peter chapter 1
is to “Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is
revealed.”
Three words/phrases that jump out are hope, grace, and when Jesus
Christ is revealed. Let’s break it down.
Hope – a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain
thing to happen
People put hope in
all sorts of things – money, material possessions, status, jobs, relationships,
health, cure for cancer, healing from disease, food, etc. The list goes on. A
funny thing happens when we put hope in something. It becomes our focus. Have
you ever hoped for something for Christmas (maybe from childhood)? As the glorious
day approached the anticipation was almost unbearable. This hope (expectation
for something) was the sole or at least a consuming thought during that advent.
Grace – God’s undeserved favor, eternal life & blessings
Sometimes we think that means we just have to cross our
fingers and wait to die to cash in this promise of grace. It seems like the
revelation of Jesus is when he returns which is…a long ways off to us. Death
and eternity really have a hard time taking root in our minds and lives. Sure
people around us die. And yes we all know we will eventually die. But we do not
think of it as something ever present usually or that it may be in the next
week or month or 25 years even. So that is not really helpful for us in being
holy TODAY.
When Jesus Christ is revealed – again this seems like the
imminent eternal life idea of rapture and second coming, not really on our
calendar of events for the week. What if that was not the whole picture. What
if Jesus being revealed was simply when our eyes are open to see Jesus and we
come to know him more? What if that was any day, every day? What if it was just
in the mix of the mundane that we experience Jesus?
Take the two disciples on road to Emmaus in Luke 24. They
had lived, breathed, eaten, and played with Jesus. Then he was killed. They
were reflecting as they walked. Jesus approached but they did not recognize
him. Then, during supper, as he prayed over them and the meal, their eyes were
opened.
Consider this paraphrase of this week’s portion of
scripture. “Put down your expectation on the table of God’s undeserved favor
that is given you when you come to know Jesus more.”
The word set from
this verse is an action verb. It requires activity from us. Hope is something
we need to carry us through the struggle, the pain, the tragedy, the
difficulty. So I ask you, where is your hope? Is it in something temporal,
fading, changing, something of this world? Or is it in Jesus, in the Jesus of
eternity but also of TODAY!
BE HOLY – Prepare your minds for actions, be self-controlled,
set your hope fully in the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.
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