Living Hope (part 2)

Digest it and eat the Word as the prophet Jeremiah did. Again read and digest 1 Peter 3-5. The resurrection gives us a living hope. In another translation, “gives us lively hope.” Of course, if it is living, it is lively. An animal or person that is dead, does not move, but if there is life, there is liveliness.

So the question is: Why did the apostle Peter describe it this way? He is contrasting it to something that is vague, unreal, counterfeit and uncertain, that is dead.

Let me illustrate: In other countries where there is winter- to them the message of Easter Morning is this – “the spring has come, and after the death (end) of winter, there are signs of life”. Grasses changing their colour, flowers blooming, leaves of the trees becoming beautifully green. Then you and I can ask this question: Is the Easter hope something vague, unreal, or just imaginary and generally belong to nature?

That is to say, when winter is gone, there comes the spring of life? Is that all there is to it? And then wait for another year –you go around the cycle of the year. If that is all we know about Easter, then I must stress the words of the apostle Paul in 1 Cor.15:19 “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.”

The Apostle Peter has something better to tell us- “who has begotten us to a living hope.” He is telling something real, something substantial, filled with certainty, something vibrant with life and power. This hope is essential because the great thing about hope in this life is that we have a confident expectation, joy, peace, full of life and enthusiasm rather than giving up on life and committing suicide as some people have done. Do you have this hope?

Since I became a Christian on Feb.24, 1963, I have always loved to sing this great hymn of faith. The first verse says, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest fame, But wholly lean on Jesus Name. On Christ the solid Rock I stand: all other ground is sinking sand.” Are you standing at the moment on a ‘sinking sand’ or on a Solid Rock? Out of the abundance OF HIS GRACE THE Father gave His Son because He loves you so much. Receive Him as your personal Saviour and Lord. It is a Free Gift. All by grace and by grace alone through faith alone! It can change the course of your life now and your eternal destiny.