Hope, faith and love in the exile
This week, we started a new series on 1 Peter focusing on verses 3-9. Peter writes to the provinces in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, and us, churches in exile. This exile is from our heavenly homeland that can often leave us feeling hopeless both spiritually and physically.
But we learn that those without hope are without God because hope is what brings us into the perspective of God. Proverbs 11:17 tells us that if we have no hope or our hope is in life, then that hope will die when we die. But, if we accept God into our lives we have Hope, Faith and Love in the exile.
1. Hope in the exile:
In verse 3-4, we are told that we are born again and adopted into God’s family which means we are God’s children and we have God’s inheritance. Inheritance is something we do not earn or deserve but we receive it because we are part of the family. Our inheritance is eternal life in Heaven when we’re free from pain (Revelations 21:4). Unlike worldly inheritance, such as money, property or valuables, our inheritance from God will never spoil, perish or decay (fade), and since our inheritance is kept in Heaven, God’s power will protect it for us until the day Christ comes (2 Timothy 1:12).
2. Faith in the exile:
In verse 6 Peter talks about trials, however, in this context he isn’t talking about temptations. He speaks of suffering and troubles, big or small, that can come into our earthly lives.
We are reminded that there is a purpose for our sufferings and that our suffering will only come for a season. Just as a goldsmith will purify gold in a fire, God will allow us to go through “fire.” This is for two reasons.
Firstly, it is to purify our faith. A goldsmith will place gold in a fire to get rid of all the impurities and as those impurities surface, the goldsmith will clean it and deal with it. In the same way, when God places us through sufferings, our impurities will show. Then God will collect and deal with our impurities.
The second reason for our suffering is to purify our faith so that we can be genuine and real. A goldsmith will know when to pull out the gold from the fire when he sees his own reflection in it. In the same way, God will “pull” us out of our suffering when He is able to see Himself in us.
3. Love in the exile:
In verse 8 we are told that we all love Jesus even though we haven’t seen Him, as it says in John 20:29, “Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” We can only love Jesus because He first loved us.
As Christians, we are only passing by on this earth but thank God that our salvation is based on hope, faith and love.
Lord God,
We thank you that even though we may be exiles on this earth, we still have hope, faith and love in you. We thank you for adopting us into your family and giving us the inheritance of Eternal Life. I ask that you’ll help us to keep enduring through our sufferings and remember that you allow us to go through it to strengthen our faith. Thank you for your love and blessing.
In Jesus’ name
Amen