“Celebrate with praises the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has shown us His extravagant mercy. For His fountain of mercy has given us a new life—we are reborn to experience a living, energetic hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We are reborn into a perfect inheritance that can never perish, never be defiled, and never diminish. It is promised and preserved forever in the heavenly realm for you!
Through our faith, the mighty power of God constantly guards us until our full salvation is ready to be revealed in the last time. May the thought of this cause you to jump for joy, even though lately you’ve had to put up with the grief of many trials. But these only reveal the sterling core of your faith, which is far more valuable than gold that perishes, for even gold is refined by fire. Your authentic faith will result in even more praise, glory, and honour when Jesus the Anointed One is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:3-7 TPT.
Did you see the bit at the beginning that says ‘celebrate?’ when I read that, I do it. Why? Am I pushed along by some sort obligation? NO! It’s an opportunity, not an obligation. I have just been reminded of how wonderful our Heavenly Father is, and how much He has done, and He will do, and is doing, right now in my life … and yours! That’s a really big reason to cheer wouldn’t you think? When I am in public I cheer inside. My “Yaaaaaaay Jesus,” can get a bit loud and I would probably scare other people. People find it hard to feel loved when they are scared.
Did you get the bit where it says that His mercy is a fountain? That’s not a trickle, or a few squirts here and there, a fountain shoots water high up into the sky, and all over itself. It splashes anybody walking near it. Fountains remind me of freedom. There is nothing like running, leaping, flowing and bubbling water to illustrate that point. At the same time our hope isn’t just laying around, lethargically. No, our hope has energy it, moves and gathers momentum. It is ALIVE. Well, of course it’s alive! JESUS CHRIST IS ALIVE forevermore and He is our living hope. Hallelujah!
The Holy Spirit says that… “We are reborn into a perfect inheritance that can never perish, never be defiled, and never diminish. It is promised and preserved forever in the heavenly realm for you!” If you ain’t smiling by now you are officially DEAD. Peter is telling us that our God is our constant guardian, so nothing can get into my life, that He and I can’t deal with. I hold fast to that. OK. Are you ready now? We just got to the jumping bit. Gird up your girdle Gertie … the Bride of Christ is going to get happy.
The whole world around us has been waiting for this … “For [even the whole] creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God’s sons to be made known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship].” Romans 8:19. The people around you are waiting for you to stand up and be His kid! We can sit about feeling sad because we don’t have this or that, or choose to get bogged down in the things that we haven’t done that we ought to have done … etc. Repent and repair stuff! And then we can go back to cheering and jumping, because Jesus took all our sins on Himself, voluntarily.
I like the way the bible acknowledges that trials do happen, that tells us they are normal, and we can be temporarily held by them. But there is a plus, the bible also reminds us that these times reveal how our faith is currently doing in spite of the strains and stresses. Our faith is subject to the difficulties of this world, just like everyone else on the planet — whether they-know-Jesus-or-not!
The idea that we are supposed to never have difficulties, or, if we have them, then somehow God is mad at us … is unscriptural. Jesus said: “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33. Trouble is normal. It’s not the yardstick – but it is normal. The point of trials is to have PEACE in the middle of them … not just avoid them, escape from them, or pretend they don’t exist. It is always helpful to know the point!
These trials expose how our faith is doing, because our faith is incredibly valuable to Almighty God. When we have faith we are choosing to reveal Him in a faithless world. Even more importantly our faith gives our Heavenly Father, God, the glory He deserves. Our faith guards and progressively reveals our full salvation, which is now, and … also … not yet. Our living faith, the faith that has been revealed by troubles and trials, gives the Lord glory, honour and praise, and we have to celebrate what we have been given. And look at that … we have arrived back where we started. We started with celebration and expanded into eternal glory and honour for the Trinity.
One day we will totally understand what we have been freely given and what a party we will have! Some people think about heaven as a quiet peaceful place, but maybe that is simply because they need a lot of peace and quiet down here… However these verses in Peter indicate that there might be also be a whole lot of jumping and shouting going on as well. The good news is, we won’t get tired of doing it, because every time the Spirit of God turns and moves, there will be a fresh revelation of the Father’s love and grace toward us all. “Divine revelation is dynamic not static.”
All of this and far more, is ours. I think it’s time for joy to break out in our hearts and lives, simply because … while we were all sinners … He saved us. We can have joy because He has us and we have Him, forever. Bye.👋.
