The Forever People 1Peter 1:17-25

"People are like grass;

their beauty is like a flower in the field.

The grass withers and the flower fades.

But the word of the Lord remains forever."

And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.

1Peter 1:24-25

We are 'Forever People', people who are strangers and foreigners in this land, we are bought and paid for by the ultimate ransom, not by money, but by Christ's blood (vs.18-20), we are slaves to sin no more.    These verses also talk about living in 'reverent fear of Him', of God.   Though we do acknowledge that we His children, there is something wrong to think that we are 'best buds' with God.  We can't loose the fact that there is a judgement coming, and though I believe that if you have Christ as lord and saviour of your life, you are secure in your salvation, but it is a reminder that our faith cannot be an idle faith, but a faith that is active.    We also need to realize that, as it says in vs. 17, God doesn't play favorites.   We are not judged on a scale based on what others have done, but on we ourselves have done with what is given.

I remember watching Oprah one day, quite a few years ago, and she said that she couldn't believe in  a God that  tells us to fear Him.    Yet how can we not have a reverential fear of the maker of worlds, designer of people, and of our salvation.   In the Old testament we have people in awe of God, afraid to show their face to Him, because of his holiness and awesomeness.    Though we are made pure through the blood of Christ, we cannot mistake our salvation for being able to treat our relationship with God like the relationship we have with our everyday friends and family.    Take time to remember the holiness of the Lord, and when we pray, give him the praise He is due.    Also, there is a warning given through the pages of 1Peter, a warning against complacency of our faith.   We need to remember what God has done for us, and live that out through our lives.

When I read 1Peter 1:24-25 I look at the poetic verses (originally Isa. 40:6-8) which I have used on occasion, and then I see what Peter added to it.  That the word that lasts forever is the Good News that was preached to us.    The truth of the Good News, that is what lasts forever.  Because of what Christ has done, we are 'Forever People', people with an eternal destiny with God because of the living word that was preached to us, and that lives in us through the Holy Spirit.   We are strangers and foreigners in this land, like Peter wrote, because of the Good News.   Everything changes for the believer ... our vision, our hope, the way we live our lives, our goals, our perspective on life, all because of the Good News, because of the living Word, Christ has changed us, transformed us.

May we not live in complacency, but in victory, may our vision not be limited to the hopelessness and despair of this world, but be lifted up to the hope, peace, and love of the next.   We are Forever People, people with a destiny.   The greatest thing about the word of God is that we can let people in on this hope we have.   We have limited time to share an eternal hope.