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Your Hope is Alive Because Jesus is Alive — 1 Peter 1:3-5
Welcome to The Daily. Go ahead and pick up your 1 Peter Scripture Journal now. Our text today is 1 Peter 1:3-5: 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. — 1 Peter 1:3-5 What do you do when the things you depend on start slipping away? A job disappears. A relationship changes. Your health declines. The plans you have fall apart. Many of the believers Peter was writing to understood that feeling. Because of their faith in Christ, they were increasingly becoming outsiders in their communities. Following Jesus was costing them something. So Peter reminds them of something that cannot be lost. A living hope. Notice that Peter does not say we have hope because life will get easier. He says we have hope because Jesus is alive. The resurrection changed everything. Peter knew this better than anyone. For years, Peter followed Jesus, believing He was the promised Messiah. But like many Jews in his day, Peter expected a conquering king who would establish an earthly kingdom. He anticipated victory, power, and restoration for Israel. Then Jesus was arrested. Crucified. Buried. In a matter of hours, Peter's expectations collapsed. The future he imagined seemed gone forever. But three days later, everything changed. Jesus walked out of the tomb alive. The resurrection transformed Peter's despair into confidence and his fear into courage, and he ran to him on the beach of Galilee. The hope Peter writes about here is not optimism or positive thinking. It is confidence rooted in a living Savior. That is why Peter calls it a living hope. Because Christ is alive, our hope is alive. He also says believers have an inheritance. That language would have reminded Jewish readers of the Promised Land—an inheritance God gave His people. Yet every earthly inheritance could be lost. Israel lost land. Kingdoms rose and fell. Possessions deteriorated. Not this inheritance. Peter describes it using three powerful words. It is imperishable—it cannot be destroyed. It is undefiled—it cannot be corrupted by sin. It is unfading—it will never diminish or lose its glory. Everything in this world eventually wears out. But your inheritance in Christ never will. And as if that were not enough, Peter says it is being kept in heaven for you. You are being guarded for it. God is not only protecting your inheritance. He is protecting you until the day you receive it. Imagine how encouraging that would have been for believers who felt vulnerable, rejected, and uncertain about the future. You may lose opportunities, comfort, and others' approval. But if you belong to Christ, you cannot lose what matters most. Your hope is alive. Your inheritance is secure. That is the kind of truth that helps believers stand firm in a hostile world. DO THIS: Make a list of three things in your life that could be lost tomorrow. Then write beside them: "My hope is not here." ASK THIS: What earthly thing am I most tempted to place my hope in? How does Christ's resurrection change the way I view my future? What would it look like to live today as though my inheritance is already secure? PRAY THIS: Father, thank You for giving me a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. When I am tempted to place my confidence in temporary things, remind me of the inheritance You have secured for me. Help me trust that You are guarding both my future and my faith. Amen. PLAY THIS: "Christ Our Hope in Life and Death"
The Daily + Weekly by Vince Miller
https://beresolute.org/vincemillerspeaker
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