Jim Springer and Jim Lewis were the twin sons of a fourteen-year-old girl. She gave birth to them and immediately disappeared. The boys were adopted into two different loving families, but for 39 years they never met each other. But they each knew they had a twin sibling somewhere. Through the probate court, they finally found each other.
Jim Lewis drove to meet his brother. When he found the house, he was so nervous he drove around the block three times. Finally, he walked up to the house and knocked on the door. When Jim Springer met Jim Lewis for the first time, they just stood there staring at one another, speechless. They said it was like looking in a mirror. It was uncanny.
Would it sustain your hope and preserve your faith to know that after the trials of this life when you see Jesus you will have a surprising resemblance to Him? Does it change your response to life to know that the trials you experience can actually make you more like Him? Do your responses to life’s troubles cause others to have an improved opinion of Jesus? It is living hope that produces joy and faith.
Let’s reflect on several ASPECTS of this living hope from First Peter 1:3 to 9.
First, the resurrection of Jesus is the source of our living hope. We have a saying, “As long as there’s life, there’s hope.” But how about saying it this way: “As long as there’s hope, there’s life.” Without hope, life isn’t worth living!
Why all the darkness and despair in our world; why are people are so miserable? They have no hope! Why over 100,000 deaths in the US in 2022 from fentanyl overdoses? No hope! Why is 1 in every 4 persons in the US taking antidepressants? People have no hope!
The world needs Jesus, the only one who can provide living hope! And even though we know Him, you and I still battle with discouragement. Every day, we should thank Him for His abundant mercy that has transformed our lives and given us this living hope.
In addition, an indestructible inheritance is the seal of our living hope. Peter wrote that our inheritance is incorruptible, untainted by sin, and it is eternal.
Earthly inheritances aren’t guaranteed. Some people are disinherited by their parents. So, an earthly inheritance isn’t a sure thing until you have it in your hands (or your bank account). In contrast, your heavenly, eternal inheritance is guaranteed, but it does have a condition. Look at verse 5. “[We] are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
As long as you and I continue to walk by faith our inheritance is secure, it’s guaranteed. And we prove that we walk by faith by our obedience to God.
Finally, our sufferings develop the reality of our living hope. Suffering reminds us that physical life is temporary. In a few days, I’ll be 65 years old. I understand better what Paul wrote to the Corinthians. “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For, this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.”
Our suffering brothers and sisters in other countries testify to this aspect of our living hope. They don’t ask us to pray that God would restore their property, overthrow their government, or end opposition to the Gospel. They ask us to pray that they will be FAITHFUL!!
They have a LIVING HOPE that no one and nothing can take away from them! And they are so confident in that hope that they are willing to give everything, even life itself, to secure that eternal inheritance. Nothing can separate them from the love of God in Christ.
Do you have a living hope like that? Is the source of your hope in the resurrection of Jesus? Have you accepted your indestructible inheritance as the seal of your living hope? And are the struggles and sufferings of life increasing the reality of your living hope?
Ask God to help you better understand and practice these aspects of your living hope.
-J. Mark Horst