1 Peter 1:17--2:3

1 Peter 1:17--2:3
Our heavenly Father has no favorites! What a blessing! We are to live in "reverent fear" of Him while we are here on this earth. It's a comfort to know that we are secure in His love and care, but we must not forget that He paid a terrible price to redeem us from our sin! "For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God." vv. 18-19 This was God's plan before the world began. In some way that we don't fully understand, God knew that we would need a Savior. At this time of year we reflect on God's great and wonderful gift of His Son Jesus. Let's remember that the birth of Jesus is only a part of the story. He grew up to suffer and die and then God raised Him from the dead and gave him great glory. We have placed our faith and hope and trust in Jesus as the great sacrifice for our sins. He has cleansed us from our sins, and according to v. 22, He wants us to show sincere love for our brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Our earthly lives are short--like grass or flowers. But our "new" lives are eternal according to the eternal, living word of God. "The grass withers and the flower fades, But the word of the Lord remains forever. And that word is the Good News that was preached to you." vv. 23-25

So because of God's grace and great kindness toward us, we are to "get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, an all unkind speech." 2:1 We are to crave "spiritual milk" from the word of God in the same way that a baby craves milk. When we are nourished on God's Word, we can become mature believers, appreciating the full experience of salvation. 2:2

We would be shocked and outraged if we heard of a mother neglecting to feed her baby. And the baby would soon grow weak without proper nourishment. Why do we think we can be strong, growing Christians if we are starved of the nourishment of God's Word? Let's determine to be believers who are well fed!