Daily Encouragement

I’m very thankful for the inheritance I received from my parents.  They were by no means rich; my dad was a pipefitter, my mom a homemaker.  Yet through the years they had accumulated some assets and passed them on equally to their four children. However I am mcuh more thankful for the intangible love and faith they passed onto me than the tangible assets I received.

Peter begins his first letter with a beautiful exclamation of praise to Almighty God: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” He then lists two gifts from God that are rich blessings to every believer.  Both are a result of His great mercy toward us.

1) “He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.“  We have “new birth into a living hope.”  That’s our present standing, brothers and sisters!  Peter wrote the letter to encourage believers who were undergoing trials and persecution under Emperor Nero.  This reminder of their present standing with God provided much needed perspective and must have been encouraging to these persecuted believers. It should encourage us as well.

2) “And into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade–kept in heaven for you.”  In the same sentence Peter reminds these dedicated believers of a future blessing yet to be rewarded.  The Jews looked forward to an inheritance in the promised land of Canaan.  But Peter reminds believers they could now anticipate a family inheritance untainted by sin in the eternal city of God.  This eternal inheritance “can never perish, spoil, or fade”

This inheritance is “kept in heaven for you.” The word used for kept has the sense “to guard by keeping the eye upon.”  We can rest assured that our future inheritance is in good hands and cannot be tampered with.  

Today, being mindful of both our present standing and our future inheritance in Christ, we should “prepare our minds for action; be self-controlled; setting our hope fully on the grace to be given us when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:13).

Be encouraged today,

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Daily Prayer: