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Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
So as the US Political chaos and Coronavirus Pandemic continue to grow in their scope, and the calendar countdown moves us one day closer to an election and a virus vaccine, I wonder how your hearts are today my friends, wherever you receive “Walking with Jesus” around the world?
Every culture of the world has a unique form of greeting when people meet one another on the street. I wonder what that is where you live? If you live in Israel, or in a Jewish community, almost anywhere in the world, you’ll likely hear “SHALOM”, both when people greet each other and when they say farewell. What does it mean to you?
In BOTH of Peter’s letters to Christians across the Roman Empire in the first century, Peter uses that greeting. In our English Bibles it reads “Grace and peace be yours in abundance.” (1&2 Peter 1:2). Don’t you love that greeting? Whatever words you normally use… “Hi”, “Ola”, “Bon Jour”, etc. especially when you are greeting another follower of Jesus, is that your desire… that they would experience an outpouring of God’s GRACE (kindness) and PEACE upon them in abundance?
Do you see Peter wants his life to always be a praise to God? He writes “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Peter is taking another opportunity to reinforce the relationship between the God he has worshipped all his Jewish life, and the man Jesus, with whom he walked for several years. Do you see it? When you hear or say the name Jesus, what picture is into your mind? Peter wants to be sure we never lose sight of the fact that Jesus is God incarnate, God in human flesh, God the Son, the second person of the Divine Trinity, God our Savior who alone gave His life on the cross for us, and God our resurrected king, who reigns from the throne room of God in heaven, right now.
I wonder my friends, if you took a moment to write a paragraph or two, that expresses your understanding of WHO Jesus Christ is and WHY each of His characteristics is vitally important, what would you write? May I invite you to take your spiritual journal and do so right now?
Peter writes: “In God’s great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” (1 Peter 1:3) Mercy is an important word and we understand it well. It means punishment that is justly due, but is withheld, is not inflicted upon a guilty person. Have you ever experienced that? Did your dad once reach for his belt, and you knew you deserved punishment for what you had done, and then instead he embraced you and told you he loved you and forgave you? That’s what God does with me, and you, when we repent of our sin and He applies the blood of Jesus to our sin rather than His wrath. When is the last time you thanked God, praised God for that? How much has that reality changed your life?
The new birth Peter speaks of is what he first heard about when he may have been present as Jesus and Nicodemus had a conversation (John 3:3-7) about the need for God’s ‘born again’ miracle in every person, if they are going to be changed from rebellious sinner to rescued, forgiven, follower of Jesus, and enter the kingdom of God.
Do you see Peter’s strong statement about the certainty and importance of the resurrection of Jesus? I wonder if every time Peter spoke or wrote that phrase, ‘the resurrection of Jesus Christ’ a shiver went up his spine as he remembered that evening Passover meal in a Jerusalem upper room with Jesus and His disciples. Peter’s boast that he’d be ready to die for Jesus if need be. Their time in the Garden of Gethsemane that night, suddenly disrupted by Judas and a mob who arrested Jesus and dragged Him off to trial. And oh… those three horrible times when Peter denied he even knew Jesus, that night. The deep emptiness they all felt when they knew with certainty Jesus was dead. The shock of actually going into that empty tomb on Sunday morning and holding the burial cloths in Peter’s own hands. And finally the several times Peter saw the resurrected Jesus, ate with Him, talked with Him, touched Him. It was no hallucination, Jesus was alive, fully healed from His crucifixion, and raised to new life! And then of course Peter watched Jesus ascend into the clouds and return to heaven. Peter’s life was changed, dramatically changed by the resurrection of his friend Jesus!
So can you hear the certainty, the confidence with which Peter writes about the HOPE that the certainty of Jesus’ resurrection gives to him, everyday, even as he sits in a Roman prison awaiting certain death? What hope, you ask? The certain hope that Jesus is watching over Peter, from His throne room in heaven, and ready to help Peter face whatever those vicious Roman guards might do to him! Peter remembered Jesus had promised “I will be with you always…” (Matt. 28:20) Do you have that hope in our chaotic, crazy world, my friends?
I have a song that might help you if you are in a difficult place right now, perhaps feeling like Peter might have felt in that dungeon. I hope it helps you find hope as Peter did… Listen to these lyrics…
“I can’t tell you why you’re walking through this valley
I can’t tell you just how long you’ve got to stay
I can’t tell you why your heart feels so unsettled, or when this all will change
But I can tell you there is something you can lean on,
it’s a promise that won’t bend and it won’t break
it will keep you when the future is uncertain . . . you’re not out of GRACE
When the darkness overwhelms you and the fear just won’t subside,
When your questions outweigh answers, on those long and lonely nights
When you’ve got to keep on movin, HE is with you in the valley of despair,
and HE WON’T LEAVE YOU THERE!!…”
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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