Daily Gospel: 4/13/11

[3] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us [4] to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, [5] who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

 - 1 Peter 1:3-5

A few things I love about this passage:

• God actually has mercy on us who are stuck in sin's miserable plight. What a joy to consider the goodness shown towards us when we were in an abominable state.
• Some people hate the idea that they are wholly helpless in spiritual matters, that they are unable to present anything good of themselves before God. Instead of loathing the possibility (truth) that we are miserable humans in God's sight, we should rather rejoice (1 Peter 1:8) in the truth that we have been brought from such a horrible state of spiritual death to a wonderful new spiritual life "through the resurrection of Jesus Christ."
• "an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you"
  Yes, please. What is this eternal inheritance and life (born-again implies new life in v.3)? John 17:3 - "And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."
• "guarded through faith"
  I'm so thankful that God protects us as we live linked up to him through faith. God won't let that link be broken.
• "a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time"
  We have yet to experience and receive unknown dimensions of our salvation bought for us by Jesus. More grace is coming. Let me be colloquial here and say this: Get pumped.