1 Peter 1:3-9
Verse 3 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,
We closed our time together yesterday talking about how applying hope requires living in hope. So how do we live the hope we have? Part of it is realizing the truth of that hope. This hope is not of our own making but is because of the gift of salvation we have been given through Jesus Christ. While all of us are likely happy about our salvation, too many of us are not living out what that salvation is.
Salvation should be something which inspires us to live into our relationship with Jesus and desire to make Him known to all we come in contact with. This doesn’t mean we are greeting everyone with a call to repentance and biblical commentary, but it does mean that we should be living in such a way that our salvation is obvious. Remember that when Luke starts talking about Zechariah and Elizabeth, it was their righteousness that he pointed out.
In a world that could use hope, we have the opportunity to share the hope of salvation by the way we live. When we live out the Fruit of the Spirit, our lives will naturally point to Him, even if they don’t understand it right then. Of course the opposite is also true. If we are aren’t living like His Spirit is living in us, we will not be portraying the hope that is ours through salvation.
This should cause us to ask ourselves what our salvation means to us. Do we find hope in our salvation? If we don’t find hope in our salvation it means we don’t find hope in Christ and if we don’t find hope in Him, how can we expect anyone else to? This salvation is the very reason Jesus came to earth all those years ago. It wasn’t about making a name for Himself, it was about giving us a hope. He was coming to bring a hope that earlier generations had hoped for, a sacrifice suitable to remove all of our sins, not just cover them.
Making It Personal
What is your hope level? Is your hope in salvation or things of this world? How can you be more aware of the hope of salvation?
Making It Personal Kids
What does it look like to live from a place of hope? Does salvation bring you hope? How can you show others the hope you have in Jesus?
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for giving us this hope of salvation. It isn’t that we are hoping we can have salvation, but a knowing hope that salvation is ours. Please help us share this hope with others. In Jesus name, amen.
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