1 Peter 1:3-5
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy, he gave us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, into an inheritance that is undying, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. Through faith, you are being protected by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed at the end of time.
Dear Heavenly Father,
In our lives and through nature, we enjoy seeing things in different shades of color, and the color spectrum is beautiful; it appeals to our eyes. However, sin is not something that has darker and lighter shades. There is no shade of grey with sin; sin is darkness, and righteousness is light. Sins darkness condemns us.
Thank You for Your plan of salvation, which Jesus carried out for us. It was to restore us to Your glory, not with money or precious stones, but with Jesus’ blood. Through His lifeblood, all our sins are washed away. In the peace of forgiveness, we have hope that only comes through Jesus’ resurrection from the dead—knowing You have accepted Jesus’ payment for all our sins.
So, what is sin? If we do not love You above all other things, we sin when we place our desires and pride before our love for You. We are in sin’s darkness whenever we do not love You perfectly—we miss hitting the bullseye of love’s mark. Likewise, we sin if we fail to love others around us as we love ourselves and do not put their needs before our own.
We can try to convince others of how great we are with the facades we put up, but we all struggle with temptation and evil desires. Even as Christians, we still suffer from sinful desires and the world’s effects on us; we sin.
We are blessed through Your Son because of the forgiveness Jesus won for us on the cross. This salvational gift came for the entire world; Jesus came into this world to be like us, except He was without sin. He lived under your laws, then went to the cross to give up His life for us. He covered us with His perfection and removed all our sins.
Through faith in Jesus, we receive our inheritance of forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life. He brought us the hope of heaven. Only through faith do we remain in Christ and are protected by You. Lord, thank You for saving us. We bring nothing to the table but are rescued through Your love and mercy. Please grant us opportunities to share Your love and grace with others today. Amen.
Written through Pastor Roger Emmons
An inheritance comes to recipients only through death, and ours came through Jesus’ death. What did we receive? His forgiveness for our sins, being restored to the Father, salvation, and eternal life. All this is ours by believing in Jesus and trusting in God.