Wow, sorry people …… haven’t posted in a while. I just can’t get myself to spend enough time in front of the computer to actually type out something worth saying. But I had to share this one little passage of scripture. Pastor Faris gave a sermon on this passage, 1 Peter 1, one of these last few weeks. Here’s the part of ch.1 I thought was cool:
1 ¶ Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen
2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure.
3 ¶ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to [obtain] an inheritance [which is] imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 ¶ In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,
7 that the proof of your faith, [being] more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.
Now I don’t know about you, but whenever I saw “trials” mentioned in passages like this I’ve had a tendency to picture it talking to people being burned alive or forced to watch Veggie Tales or something traumatic like that. But this past week I’ve been reading over this passage and it’s got a much more personal and usable application that. The time of life I’m in right now can be really cool sometimes and really discouraging at others. It’s cool to have the majority of your life ahead of you (I think the majority…. I guess we’ll see lol) with so many things yet to be determined …. like my career and exact calling in life, identity of a wife type person, place I’m going to live, just so many big things. I’m not locked into any particular track in life yet so it’s all yet to be explored territory. On the flip side of the coin though, it can be really frustrating and discouraging to have to wait and discern the path God had for me to follow. This 1 peter passage applies just as much to me in my little quarter life crisis as anything. When you read it that way, it’s incredibly encouraging.
First it says we were born again to a living hope in verse 3. Where should my hope come from? It should come from the resurrection of Christ and the fact that because of that there is going to be an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and will not fade away. It gives me a great deal of hope to know exactly what my purpose in life is. I exist not to be this great successful person from the worlds perspective as much pressure as there is to aim for just that as I near the end of college. No, I exist to bring glory to Christ in whatever he has given me to do right now whether that’s flight instructing and keeping up with my studies or going on missions to deepest darkest Africa. This manifests itself in everything from the way I live my life to what I say to others in the contact I have with them. My hope comes from Christ and what he has done for me.
Not only does it say that my hope will come from what Christ did and continues to do for me, but it says it will also be cause for me to rejoice. In fact it says that if I love him and believe in him I will “greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory” and this will happen, even though I am “tested by many trials”. How encouraging is that! Well, pretty encouraging if you ask me. It definitely was just what I was needing to hear this past week, so I figured I would share that.
Well, quick recap of the past few weeks if anyone really wanted to know:
Finals week: work and study then take a final pretty much describes Monday through Thursday, but Friday I really changed it up and I took a final then worked all day.
Saturday I worked, or more like sat around waiting for students to show up, and then went home.
Sunday was good. Mothers day and all. Grilled out and sat on the back porch with the family.
Monday I planted flowers and mulched with Mom, mowed grass, took Kathryn to class and that’s about it lol. Oh yeah, and had a little cheeseburger place/ taco bell/ dairy queen/ papa john’s adventure with Kathryn. Don’t even ask lol.
Tuesday…. Hmm I don’t remember. Oh yeah! Canoed in eagle creek with Josh and Eric and company. Tons of fun. Ritters afterwords was cool too. Kathryn, you should have been there.
Wednesday…. Pancake thing at church. Good times. Team 2 was definitely the all around sardines champions though, you all never would have found us lol.
Today…… work. Bla. And cleaned the house up here in L a little. Or I guess that would be WL. Either way.
1 ¶ Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen
2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure.
3 ¶ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to [obtain] an inheritance [which is] imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 ¶ In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,
7 that the proof of your faith, [being] more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.
Now I don’t know about you, but whenever I saw “trials” mentioned in passages like this I’ve had a tendency to picture it talking to people being burned alive or forced to watch Veggie Tales or something traumatic like that. But this past week I’ve been reading over this passage and it’s got a much more personal and usable application that. The time of life I’m in right now can be really cool sometimes and really discouraging at others. It’s cool to have the majority of your life ahead of you (I think the majority…. I guess we’ll see lol) with so many things yet to be determined …. like my career and exact calling in life, identity of a wife type person, place I’m going to live, just so many big things. I’m not locked into any particular track in life yet so it’s all yet to be explored territory. On the flip side of the coin though, it can be really frustrating and discouraging to have to wait and discern the path God had for me to follow. This 1 peter passage applies just as much to me in my little quarter life crisis as anything. When you read it that way, it’s incredibly encouraging.
First it says we were born again to a living hope in verse 3. Where should my hope come from? It should come from the resurrection of Christ and the fact that because of that there is going to be an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and will not fade away. It gives me a great deal of hope to know exactly what my purpose in life is. I exist not to be this great successful person from the worlds perspective as much pressure as there is to aim for just that as I near the end of college. No, I exist to bring glory to Christ in whatever he has given me to do right now whether that’s flight instructing and keeping up with my studies or going on missions to deepest darkest Africa. This manifests itself in everything from the way I live my life to what I say to others in the contact I have with them. My hope comes from Christ and what he has done for me.
Not only does it say that my hope will come from what Christ did and continues to do for me, but it says it will also be cause for me to rejoice. In fact it says that if I love him and believe in him I will “greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory” and this will happen, even though I am “tested by many trials”. How encouraging is that! Well, pretty encouraging if you ask me. It definitely was just what I was needing to hear this past week, so I figured I would share that.
Well, quick recap of the past few weeks if anyone really wanted to know:
Finals week: work and study then take a final pretty much describes Monday through Thursday, but Friday I really changed it up and I took a final then worked all day.
Saturday I worked, or more like sat around waiting for students to show up, and then went home.
Sunday was good. Mothers day and all. Grilled out and sat on the back porch with the family.
Monday I planted flowers and mulched with Mom, mowed grass, took Kathryn to class and that’s about it lol. Oh yeah, and had a little cheeseburger place/ taco bell/ dairy queen/ papa john’s adventure with Kathryn. Don’t even ask lol.
Tuesday…. Hmm I don’t remember. Oh yeah! Canoed in eagle creek with Josh and Eric and company. Tons of fun. Ritters afterwords was cool too. Kathryn, you should have been there.
Wednesday…. Pancake thing at church. Good times. Team 2 was definitely the all around sardines champions though, you all never would have found us lol.
Today…… work. Bla. And cleaned the house up here in L a little. Or I guess that would be WL. Either way.
Good to read. Is that what you were thinking about when you were home??? God is always good, even when I don't see it!!! I am always encouraged when I hear (read) how He is moving in your life! Didn't miss much here... cleaning, cleaning, and preping food for Philip's openhouse tomorrow. Hope you can come, the earlier the better. But you can keep the rain in WL!
~Mom
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