It made me think. Does the sound of someone’s voice make any difference in whether I listen or not? It might. More than twenty-five years ago I heard a man from Scotland read the following verses, and every time I read them, I hear his voice.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3-5)These words rolled off the tongue of Alistair Begg in a sermon series at Grace Community church in the early 1980's. The repetition over a few weeks, and his Scottish brogue, embedded Peter’s words in my heart, and what a great passage of Scripture to know by ear!
I’m particularly drawn to the phrase “a living hope” in verse three. This is part of what Jesus promised in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
Abundant life is not about lots of money and stuff. It is about living with a sense of completeness and fullness that money cannot buy. It is about purpose and knowing that life matters. It is also about security and the delight of realizing the truth of those verse in 1 Peter. God is merciful. He has given me eternal life — an inheritance reserved for me in heaven, but also a life that I live right now. Further, God keeps me and cares for me through faith, and faith is also His gift. My life may have ups and downs, but I know this abundance, am certain that it will never end, and rejoice in it.
Hope is used in most situations as sort of a “hope so” thing, like I felt as a child when I made out my Christmas list. However, this is not the way Peter or the New Testament uses this word. I’m quoting from one of my commentaries because it says it so well:
Hope here does not imply a wishfulness but rather a dynamic confidence that does not end with this life but continues throughout eternity. “Hope is one of the Theological virtues,” C. S. Lewis said. “This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth “thrown in”: aim at earth and you will get neither.” (Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Commentary)Today, I take aim with eternity as my target. I’ve no idea what God will do with my life from this point, but I do know where I will wind up, and that makes today and every day an adventure in serving Him.
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