1 Peter 1:1-9

This is one of those days where I just don’t feel like doing much of anything I’m supposed to do. I’d much rather be biking around Kensington or walking the Lake Michigan shoreline or kicking through fallen leaves in the woods somewhere.

I found some of the things I read in Ecclesiastes 10 pretty interesting, but I’m not quite sure how to take them. Ecclesiastes is such a strange book. The author is so skeptical, I’m not sure whether to take what he says seriously or just to chalk it up to the musings of a life without God.

And then I read Jeremiah 32-34 and was amazed all over again at God’s commitment to restore His rebel children and be good to them with all His heart and all His soul (32:40-41). The restoration He promises in chapter 33 is incredible, especially in light of His anger in 32:26-35.

But the rapturous exultation in God which opens the book of 1 Peter is what really caught my attention:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith- more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire- may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Absolutely awesome. I am going to print these verses on a card and memorize them.