In our youth group, we’ve been going through 1 Peter, looking at how Peter addresses an audience of Christians who are experiencing persecution throughout an area that spans modern-day Turkey. As I have been reading and preparing the first few verses, one of the big points that I think Peter makes is that this life is just a moment, a short stop before eternity. In 1 Peter 1:1, he uses the term “exiles” to describe his Christian audience, a term that should remind us of our true citizenship in heaven and the transience of this life. It has been both a reviving chapter to meditate on and a challenge to communicate in a culture that focuses so heavily on here and now, with little emphasis on ultimate reality.
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. (1 Peter 1:3-7, ESV)
It is amazing to me that in these brief five verses, Peter covers the span of the life of a believer. We begin with Jesus and what he has already accomplished through his substitutionary atonement and resurrection. We are born again to a living hope in this Christ. And we have an ultimate destination, when Christ is revealed as our King, “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion” (Ephesians 1:21, ESV).
This life is brief. And after it, we will be reunited with our Lord. We will see Jesus.
good reminder to be eternally focused. thanks eddy.