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,
1 Peter 1:3
Sometimes in a race, you need to start out slow. You know that you’ve got a long way to go and you only have so much energy. You’ve got miles and miles ahead of you and you want to make it over the finish line in one piece.
On these kinds of races, you need to conserve your energy for the long road ahead of you. If you start out in a sprint, you’ll run out of gas and you’ll never finish your race. You’ll never make it to the end. You’ll have to pull off to the side while everyone passes you.
But then there’s car racing. Whether it’s NASCAR, Indy, Formula 1, Hypercar, or Drag Racing, you don’t hold anything back. From the very start, you go all out. You go as hard and fast as you can. You “put the pedal to the metal” and go all out. You never stop pushing as hard as you can. You never let up.
And the book of First Peter is like a car race. He starts out fast and keeps on going. Ne never lets up. Peter just keeps going as fast as he can. He keeps his foot on the gas and tells us to hold on. We need to fasten our seatbelt while putting our tray tables in their upright and locked position.
You remember Peter. When Jesus asked who he was, Peter comes right out and says ““You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God[1].” He doesn’t mince words. He doesn’t hold anything back. This is the kind of guy that Peter is.
So when it comes to his first letter, Peter comes out with both guns-a-blazing. He comes off the starting line with giving praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Right away he tells us that God and Jesus are equal. Jesus is God. Period. There’s no doubt about it in Peter’s mind. And then he gives three important reasons to praise God.
Great Mercy. Not just your daily serving of mercy. Not normal mercy either. Not the plain vanilla mercy that you get at the grocery store of life. This was great mercy. Over the top mercy. More mercy than you can imagine. It’s so much mercy that you could almost drown in it. When God give us mercy, he doesn’t give us what we deserve. He holds back on the immediate punishment that we’ve earned.
New Birth. Not just the birth when your parents saw you for the first time. Not the kind of birth that everyone and everything gets to experience. This is more than just coming into this world. It’s receiving a different and altogether better kind of life. A life above and beyond anything that our minds and bodies could possibly experience.
Living Hope. This isn’t the average kind of hope we experience in daily life. It’s so much more than hoping that it doesn’t rain today so we can have a picnic. There’s hope and a living hope that excites and energizes every part of us. It’s pumping eats, energy, and excitement throughout our lives. It’s the kind of hope that let’s us look into the future without fear.
After reading these three things, it makes me want to jump and shout. I’m so pumped about Jesus and his dying for me and my awful sin. These three things aren’t given because of what we’ve done. Or anything we’ve said or given. Not on your life. These are the free gift of God through Jesus.
But there’s something more. When God gives these, he doesn’t give them one at a time. These aren’t spoon-fed over time. You don’t get great mercy one day and then have to wait a while for the new birth to come around. And then you don’t need to do something great to earn his living hope. All three come at the same time. They’re all part of one thing. God’s grace. His leaning into us. His reaching down to us.
This is why followers of Jesus should be able to live lives that don’t just look back at where they’ve been or look down where we’re at. We can live with our eyes and attitudes lifted up.
And why? Because we’ve already received great mercy, a new birth and a living hope. These aren’t some promises out somewhere in the future. Not on your life. They’re given and they’ll never be taken away. No one can take them away either. There here, right now, and available to empower and encourage us.
So, when you feel down. Or are being knocked down. When it looks like you’re going to lose. When you’re running out of energy and are about to fall down. Remember these three promises from one of the greatest fall-down-and-get-back-up people of all time.
If Peter could write these words, then you know that he experienced them. He knew what it was like to get kicked around by the circumstances of life. But when he met Jesus, lots of things immediately changed. And over the rest of his life, they kept on changing. And why? Because it all started with Jesus. The start of our living begins with Jesus. And the only way to keep on living in this broken world is to keep our eyes on Jesus. He’s the once and daily start to life.
Noodling Questions
How hard is it to start something? Explain.
What keeps you going after you start something?
What’s the most important start of your life? Describe.
[1] Matthew 16:16
Comentarios