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New Article: Renewing Our Hope

 

               1 Peter 1:24-25 says, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever”.

               In the past, I have always focused on the “nothing lasts forever” part of this scripture.  People come and people go.  We get a job, make some money, then something changes, and we are looking for work again.  Children are born and, in a blink of an eye, they are out of the house, married and have children of their own.  The stock market goes up and down.  When teaching this passage, I would always encourage people to be adaptable, because the only constant is change.

               There is one major problem with this approach, though, and that is that I overlooked the last line.  I treated the part that says, “the word of the Lord endures forever” as if it was just a nice way to end the sentence.  However, that line is not a throwaway, it is the entire point!

               Peter is not saying “nothing lasts”.  He is saying “nothing earthly lasts”.  If you want something that will never go away, change, or become useless, then you need to focus on the spiritual and unseen parts of your life.  Everything else is temporary, but the truths found in the word of God and in Jesus, who is called “the word” (John 1:1) are eternal.

               As we approach Easter weekend and think about Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, may we use this time to recalibrate our thinking, so that God’s story intersects ours in a way that changes us both now and eternally. 

               God paid a great price to give us this opportunity and he is waiting for us to come home. 

               Everyone can be part of that celebration.

               “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God (1 Peter 1:18-21)

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