Advent Devotional - Day 19

DECEMBER 19 – 1 Peter 1: 3-4
By: Ken Schuster

Praise to God for a Living Hope
3 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, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you.

As I prepared this article a thought started that we have heard mans acknowledgement of Peter for years but do not recognize the simplicity of it. “Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below...” Peter is reminding us again that this is about God and what He has done and will do for us. Our part is to make our need, our desire to be a part of Him a burning desire, a “living hope” that we will have the faith He expects from us. This is not a hope for some unseen or futuristic happening. Rather it is the knowledge that God’s gift for us is there, in heaven, waiting for us. “For you, who are kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation.” “Which is the assurance that because He has risen, you also shall rise.”