New Birth!

New Birth!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his 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 NIV

Context:

Peter, one of the disciples of Jesus, writes this letter to people he refers to as God's elect, but who had been scattered all over the then Asia minor, due to persecution. This was the new wave sweeping across the entire world at the time, and people were buying into it. Unfortunately, opposition against it was also on the rise, and just as it was in the days when Jesus walked the earth, so also were authorities persecuting those who belonged to the way of Jesus. I note that following Jesus does not keep you from tough times; in fact, if you are a true follower of Jesus, expect tough times. 

There is a note of joy in the midst of the stress of the new life we have been called into, and it is in the verse just before today's extract: chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood. See the harmony among the Trinity when it comes to my walk with God. I am not left alone to fend for or defend myself; I have the whole of heaven backing me up. I did not stumble into salvation by accident; it had always been God's plan that I will come to know and follow Him. I am washed by the blood of Jesus and called to obedience to Him, and the Holy Spirit helps me to live right everyday. I cannot skip any of these steps; nothing I hold on to will be of much value if it has not been subjected to the test of truth, which is only found in connection with the Trinity. As I examine my life now, can I say of a truth that what I have is of God? 

Message and Response:

In the light of the above, what other response is expected of me, except to praise God for what he has done and given me? I did not earn it; I could not earn it, because the currency of grace, mercy, redemption and sanctification is not that which man can print. I did not come into this new standing by virtue of my circle of influence, the value of my bank account balance or my networth or goodwill, but simply by the great mercy of God. That is quite clear from today's extract. If this makes me proud of what I have received and does not make me humble, grateful to God for his mercy and quick to live to please the Lord who loved me enough to pay such a huge price for me, then I do not fully understand what I have been given. 

And I see the harmony of the past, present and future all tied up in the person of Jesus. For all who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour, we have been saved from the natural consequences of our sin. We deserved death, but we got life because Jesus died in our place. We have now been born again, with new life in Jesus our new reality. The past is forgotten and forgiven, never to hold us down anymore. We were not saved to flit in and out of sin, but to make a clean and complete break with sin. That is how the past life of sin is dealt with, and how we move into the daily new life that Jesus has made possible. 

And the joy is this: it does not end down here or simply with me having Jesus living inside me. I see a 'living hope', and of course, you can't get a living hope if the one who births and sustains it is not also living. The reason why the hope I have is living is simply because Jesus lives forever, and his promise is that he is with me always, even to the end of the age, wherever that time is. As long as I am on earth, I am conscious of who I have in me, and where I am headed. I must not live carelessly or recklessly, but must take careful thought of what I was saved from, who I have now become, who lives in me, what he demands of me, and where I am headed. That is the summary of the most important things that must hold my heart now.

The power that could raise a man from death is not ordinary; the power that can reverse the ordinarily irreversible is not a power to be toyed with. If that power demands a certain lifestyle from me, the only way I can enjoy the benefits that power provides is to align with its demands. Why would I think that God is bound to do all I ask, if I choose not to submit to him? Why would God be bound to listen to me if I ignore his word and strike out on my own? I must not waste the grace of God that took Jesus to the cross for my sake. All that belongs to the old life must be let go, so that I can take hold of the new life that is available in Christ, and so that I can end up where he is, when all of this present earthly life is over. I check again that which I hold: is it living or do I need to drop what is in my hands right away? Have I taken hold of that new life? His time of favour is here.