… set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.
Peter continues. He advises us to keep our minds alert and sober. Why? He tells us to set our hope on something that will be given us when Jesus comes. What? What will be “brought to [us]” when Jesus is revealed?
Honestly, this sentence by Peter feels a bit like a flash quiz. In school, there were the tests that you knew were coming; midterms and finals. Those you could plan for. The ones that everyone seemed to hate were those quizzes.
What have we been talking about? Verses 4 and 5 may summarize it best;
”This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”
And then in verse 9, he adds:
”…for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
So what we are talking about is the most important thing you will ever deal with in your entire life here on earth.
There are a lot of decisions we make that are important. What careers we choose, whether to go to college, if you should join the military. Who you marry is a big one. What insurance should you get, what car should you buy, should you exercise for health and lose weight and avoid eating too much? How much should you save for retirement? Should you retire? Who should you vote for? What should you eat for breakfast?
Life is a never-ending stream of decisions. Sometimes we bunt, sometimes we stand up to the plate and hit a home run. But all the decisions we are confronted with are absolutely insignificant when compared to whether or not we choose to acknowledge Jesus as our Lord.
I shared a bit of my testimony in a post of that name a while back. Another part of that story is that I came to realize at some point that if God is real, nothing else really matters. Acknowledging God is the most important thing we can do now, today, tomorrow and every waking moment we have.
Application: Check your priorities. Is God Number One in your mind? Nothing is more important.
Food for Thought: What does a person’s life look like when they acknowledge Jesus as Lord?
God’s purpose for our lives is that we conform more and more to the image of His Son (Romans 12: 2). This is a transformation in which we glorify God and enter into meaningful relationship with our Creator (Some theologians once said that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever – I would say it is to love God and glorify Him forever). If we acknowledge Jesus as Lord we are positionally sanctified. The rest of our lives are to demonstrate God’s transformational work as He molds us into the image of His Son. In this process we will grow in our love for God and others (Matthew 22: 37 – 40). We will exhibit the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5: 22 – 23). We will grow into maturity in the faith (Colossians 2: 6 – 7).
Rich,
Thank you for the beautiful and concise overview of our life in Christ. I have added links to each passage to make it easy for people to follow your references.
Well done Rich, appears our Lord may have wanted a couple points to stand out.
The Holy Spirit in our hearts creates an inner desire to please God, to live in humble obedience to His revealed will over our own. Loving others, being peacemakers, putting others first in obedience to His will without thinking about it, will be the fruit of the Spirit coming out of our lives naturally.
Romans 12:2 , be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
John 14:15-17, If we love Jesus we will obey Him and He will send the Holy Spirit who will remain with and in us continually.
James 2:12-26, We will know our faith is genuine by the good works it produces.
Gal 5:16-24,
When we live in obedience to the guidance of Holy Spirit, we will not follow our sinful nature. The Holy Spirit’s love in us will produce, unselfish concern for others, joy, inner peace, patience, not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. While our sinful nature, its passions and appetites will be crucified.
Ron,
Your reference to James 2: 12-26 brings to mind Matthew 7: 21,
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
As Rich points out with Galatians 5: 22-23, certain characteristics are apparent in the person of faith.
Our relationship with God is made visible in how we live our lives. Our study of Jude was eye-opening in this respect.
👍🏻