"To Him be glory forever": 1 Peter 1

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Bucket List

I had a phone call the other day where I mentioned the little adventure I have planned to run this summer. My friend said, "Oh, bucket list!" I replied with something along the lines of, "Just something I thought I would attempt before I get any older."

I appreciate my friend's excitement, but I don’t really function with a bucket list mindset. Sure, there are things I would like to do in life. There are goals that I have set in the past, and there may be other goals set in the future. But there is no list of things I would like to do before I "kick the bucket" and no longer have the time or opportunity.

The obstacle for me and the bucket list idea is that is has a tendency to value the things of this world beyond the things of the world to come. And as a Christian, that could be a problem. Make a list of ultimate things to pursue and then get them done and cross them off during the unknown amount of time remaining. It can put the focus on the things of today, without giving the promise that lies ahead it's due. And the promise is pretty amazing.

1 Peter 1: 3-5 puts it like this:

"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."

The idea of an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading is pretty amazing all on its own, but Peter adds that it is "kept in heaven, for you." This isn't an abstract inheritance, but something personal awaiting each and every Christian.

But what could it be? The answer to that particular question will just have to wait on God's timing.

If you have a bucket list, that is fine, but keep in mind that for you there may be much something better. If you are a Christian one day you are going to come into something that will make every single thing on your list look paltry and insignificant by comparison.

And today I'll close with a link to a really good song that casts our vision forward:

Christ is Mine Forevermore

Thursday, February 14, 2019

Certainty

"We live in uncertain times." Or at least I've seen that claim online on a number of occasions in the past few years. I'm not so sure that the times we live in are any more uncertain than they were on September 11, 2001, or August 1, 1957, the day I was born, or July 4, 1776, or October 31, 1517, for that matter. I imagine that throughout history, in virtually every place and among every people, there have been things going on that caused people to feel unsettled and perhaps insecure about the future.

Things change. People change. Circumstances change. But a number of things remain unchanged, with certainty. One of these is God's word.

Isaiah 40:7-8 says:

"The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever."

That passage is then used in 1 Peter 1:24-25.

"“All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers, and the flower falls,
but the word of the Lord remains forever.”

And this word is the good news that was preached to you."

Isaiah says that the word of God stands forever, and to this Peter adds that the word that was preached is good news. This is getting interesting.

The Bible reading plan I follow has brought me to the Gospel of Luke, where in chapter 1, verse 4, Luke tells his friend, Theophilus, the reason for writing to him, which is:

"…that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught."

The word "gospel" means "good news" and somewhere along the way Theophilus has learned a number of things about Jesus. Luke wants his friend to know that he has investigated all that he can learn about this Jesus, and that therefore Theophilus can be certain that what he has learned on his own is true. You can read the Gospel of Luke for yourself to see the specific parts of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus that Luke passes on to his friend.

Times may change and appear to be uncertain. But what doesn't change is that in every time every person living is a sinner in need of a Savior. Jesus, alone, by faith, is the one who can save. Read the Gospel of Luke for yourself to see how that works itself out. And know, with certainty, that if you call on Jesus, he will save you.