He has given us
new birth into a living hope.
—1 Peter 1:3
Before becoming religious champions, Martin Luther, John Bunyan, and John Wesley were haunted by their pasts. Awareness of their sinfulness tormented them; thoughts of coming judgment terrified them.
It isn’t an uncommon fear: what you once were keeps you from becoming what you were meant to be. You’re doomed.
Don’t buy into that!
“In his great mercy [God] has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Pt 1:3). Christ’s resurrection fills us with hope, not only because he lives but because by God’s merciful new birth, we also live. His resurrection carried Christ out of the grave and into heaven, where he lives to make intercession for us (Rom 8:34).
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, all fear is gone.
—Bill & Gloria Gaither
Don’t view hope from a distance
—live under its roof.