1 Peter 1:3-5 What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole. Today's episode talks about how lucky we are to have God. Then it goes on to talk about how we have been given a brand new life and how important it is to take care of that life. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
What A God We Have!
1 Peter 1:3-5 What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole.
Today we are continuing on with 1 Peter 1. I love how today’s verse starts off by saying, “What a God we have!” It then goes on to talk about how fortunate we are to have it. This is true, and yet I am not sure we talk about it or even realize it enough. If we really knew all the things God did for us, I don’t think our minds could even comprehend it. Most of us know when God does the big things in our lives. We know when He heals people, when He opens doors for us, when He helps us out of impossible situations, yet that is only a tiny fraction of all the things He does for us. What about all the things we don’t see? What about the things we don’t know to say thank you for because he spared us from even having to know about it? What about all the times he aligned things perfectly in our favor, and it was so seamless, yet we didn’t realize it was Him setting it up for us? Yes, we are definitely fortunate we have Him!
The next part goes on to say that because Jesus was raised from the dead, we have been given a brand new life and have been given everything to live for. This is something that can be hard to believe. It can be hard to wrap our minds around this. Jesus died on the cross for our sins so that we could live the life that He deserved. We have all been given new life. When Jesus arose from the dead, He defeated death once and for all. He was victorious.
This new life that Jesus gave us is not a perfect life. We still live on Earth with broken people. We will still get hurt, and we will still hurt people. Jesus coming back to life did not ensure us that we would not have any problems. However, what He did ensure is that we can defeat evil just as He did. When Jesus came back to life, He showed us that God had victory over His enemies. We messed up, we ate the apple in the garden, and God had to punish us. Yet, look how amazing God is to us. Instead of letting us stay lost, stay in that state of original sin, he sent Jesus to come and redeem us. God is so good!
We need to accept this new life, though. We need to recognize that although it is not a perfect life, it is a great life. We now have the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of us. This is what helps us to live this new life. When we are struggling, all we have to do is call upon that power, and it will be granted to us. The part of the verse that I wish everyone could hear is when it says, “and have been given everything to live for.” There are so many people who don’t want to live any longer. They feel life is too hard or they are too much of a burden.
In 2022, there was a record high of 49,369 suicides. If you divide this number by 365 days in a year, you get 135 suicides per day. If you divide that number by 24 hours in a day, you get 5.6 suicides per hour in 2022. Can you even imagine that? Did you know it was this high? These people do not know that Jesus died for their sins. Or maybe they know it, but they don’t believe it. They don’t know that they are loved by the almighty one. They probably don’t feel loved by anyone. What if we could change this? What if we could start spreading the love of Jesus to all those we meet? What if we could embrace this new life that Jesus has won for us, and we could pass it on to all those we have contact with? What if we helped everyone to know the love of Jesus? We don't have to change the whole world, but what if we started with those who were closest to us?
This verse ends with, “including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole.” Jesus has secured a place in heaven for us. Not based on our merits but based on the fact that He died for our sins. He was sinless and yet took our sins to the cross for us. This is something to celebrate. This is something we can share with others. Let’s get the word out to all we meet. We have a future in heaven and that future starts now. God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. God is taking care of us. He is keeping an eye on all of it and working it for our good. We just have to trust Him.
We have to trust that this really sucky year won’t last forever. We have to trust that even though we lost our job, God has something else lined up for us. We have to trust that although we feel awful right now, this feeling won’t last forever. We need to trust that God has us and He is taking care of us, even if it is not in the timing that we want.
The last line in this verse is one that can hopefully give us all hope. It says, “The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole.” Who doesn’t want a life that is healed and whole? I wish I could tell every single person who is contemplating suicide this fact. The day is coming when you’ll have it all— life healed and whole. Don’t take your life; it will get better. Don’t take your life; people do care about you. Don’t take your life; people love you and accept you. Don’t take your life; God is watching out for your future. Turn to Him with your feelings. Be honest with Him, and He will help you.
Well, I definitely did not start out writing this, thinking I would be talking about suicide this morning. The Holy Spirit has a mind of His own, and He knows what people need to hear more than I do. I hope this was encouraging for you. I hope you have hope for this future in heaven that we have been told about. I hope you take this verse and all it says to heart. Jesus died for us so that we can be free. I hope you are living a free life. If not, I hope something that was said here today will help you move closer to the free life you are meant to live.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, help those who feel hopeless hear this message today. Fill them with your love and hope in you that things will get better. Lord, help us be your love and your light to all those we know, especially those struggling. Help us to remember that Jesus died for our sins, and when He rose again, he gave us new life. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. Don’t forget that today is the first session of my new mentoring group. I hope you will join me! It’s not too late. Just head over to my website, walkboldlywithjesus.com, or CLICK HERE. I look forward to getting to meet some of you face to face tonight on zoom. For everyone else, I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow and bringing you another witness. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I. Have a blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord is, “My children, who love and praise me and honor me by their lives of holiness, know how to flow with the swift current. By the power of the Holy Spirit, they abandon their attempts to fight this current and flow freely with it. Its power and speed may seem frightening, but they remain afloat by practicing the gifts of the Holy Spirit.”