Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Peter's Pen 1st Peter 1:8&9


1Pe 1:8-9  Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,  (9)  obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

I once had someone tell me that the gospel was unbelievable.  I agreed.  For the “world,” it does seem unbelievable.  When you and I were dead in our sins, blind to the things of God, the Gospel seemed unbelievable.

But – God didn’t let that remain the case for you and me.  He made us alive, restored our sight and we believed.  Now we are His forever.

In this passage Peter is acknowledging the unbelievableness of the Gospel.  We have never seen Jesus and yet we love Him.  We don’t see Him now yet we believe in Him.  We aren’t in heaven yet – but we rejoice at the firm promise of it.

Oh yeah – we’re nuts.  Folks even thought Paul was nuts:
Act 26:24  And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, "Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind."

Paul even writes:
1Co 1:27-29  But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;  (28)  God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not to bring to nothing things that are,  (29)  so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

Do you ever feel alien?  Do you ever have a sense that you aren’t meant for here?  That is very appropriate.  Even more so to feel a little godly "foolishness."

But this passage does not stand alone.  We haven’t “seen” Him yet we love Him.  We don’t “see” Him yet we rejoice in His promises and faithfulness.

But Peter goes on in the next section -

No comments: