FOR YOU HAVE BEEN BORN AGAIN
1 Peter 1:22-25 (NIV) 22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable
seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For,
“All people are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.”
And this is the word that was preached to you.
In yesterday’s Scripture, Peter reminds his readers that Jesus was chosen to be the spotless lamb from the very foundation of the world. If anything makes us feel safe and secure, it is knowing that nothing is by chance or happenstance. Instead, God has a plan. And that plan includes a pathway to salvation.
In the Bible, salvation is equated with being born again. You remember how the Pharisee Nicodemus came to Jesus asking what he must do to be saved. Jesus said very simply, you must be born again.
The new birth through Jesus is the most life altering event we can ever experience. Peter says our love for others is sincerely, deeply and from the heart.
So how does being born again enable us to love so deeply? When we give our lives to Jesus, and we begin to practice being intentional in our discipleship, we are transformed into people who can love even those who have hurt us to the core.
I recall watching a clip of a serial killer being sentenced to death for his crimes. The victims’ families issued scathing comments, cursing him to having unbearable pain. But one man stood up and said you are making me prove my faith in a way no one should have to do. I forgive you.
When we can forgive others who have hurt us, maligned us, taken something precious from us, made our lives generally unbearable, then we are living out our faith.
May we never forget the life affirming power of the enduring Word, and may we allow that power to change us from the inside out.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Seeking Holiness 