How easy is it to doubt when you are suffering during hard times, to vacillate in your faith and your understanding of God?
Peter’s letters are written to a church full of ordinary people wrestling with their daily lives, thoughts, and feelings. His heart for them shows in his reminders to realign their thinking with the truth of the gospel.
Because they are chosen by God and know Jesus, he reassures them that they are encompassed with grace and peace (1 Peter 1:2; 2 Peter 1:2).
He validates how alien they feel because, in fact, they are "strangers" and don’t belong while on earth. Valuing the realities of God’s ways is counter-cultural, not embedded in current philosophies and fashion (1 Peter 1:1; 4:6) .
He grounds those whose minds are filled with questions and doubts in the sacred words of both the prophets and the disciples, who were “eyewitnesses of his majesty” and heard the voice of God the Father endorse Jesus (2 Peter 1:16-18).
He instructs them, as the body of Christ on earth, to use whatever gifts they have received. He says that, through Christ’s strength, they should engage faithfully, willingly, freely, eagerly and humbly with each other. (1 Peter 4:10-12; 1 Peter 5:2)
Words are powerful. Today we are even more inundated with words from the world than Peter’s readers were. Let’s humbly accept the reminders of our true identity given to us through the prophets and apostles in the Bible.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the truth given to us through your Word. We thank you that we can know the truth, remind ourselves of it, and return to it again and again. Help us today to hug to our hearts the truth that we are chosen by you, knowing we belong to you. Amen.
Throughout This Day: Take a moment to thank God for the words in Scripture that influence your life. Share one of those verses with someone today.