Bruce Collins, Evangelist

The personal website of Bruce Collins

Our Reason for Getting up in the Morning

Meditation for the week of November 29, 2009

1 Peter 1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

We all need something to look forward to when we get up in the morning. The unsaved find that something in the things this world offers.  They want pleasure and power and fulfillment at the present time.  Those who are born again find that something in looking forward to a life with the Lord Jesus throughout eternity.  The unsaved live for the here and now.  The saved look forward to something better than the here and now.  That is why we bless God.

God is to be blessed because of the new birth.  The first birth gave us life that must end.  The new birth gives us life that never ends.  The new birth is produced by the Word of God (1 Peter 1:23) which is eternal.  The first birth prepares us for this life.  The new birth prepares us for eternity.  

God is to be praised because of His great compassion or abundant mercy.  All of us are sinners and we all sin.  Some of us sin one way and some of us sin another.  We like to point fingers at other people’s sin while not admitting our own.  But God has concluded us all “under sin” (Romans 3:9).  And He has graciously provided abundant mercy to us through the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot (1 Peter 3:19). 

God is to be praised for the living hope that He has provided us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Because the Lord was raised from the dead, we have confidence that the Lord can and will raise us from the dead.  So when we stand at the grave of a loved one who trusted in Christ, we have confidence that death is not the end and that God will raise our loved one from the dead.  We have hope or confidence in the future.  We don’t hope to be saved but because we are saved we have hope or a reason to get up in the morning.  The unsaved will also be raised from the dead, but they are raised to experience the “second death” (Revelation 20:14).  They have “no hope” (Ephesians 2:12).

God is to be praised because He has provided the saved with an eternal inheritance that will never decay nor will it be lost.  Many people have large inheritances left to them in this life.  Those who were not named in the wills as beneficiaries often try to obtain some of the money.   All of the wealth is left behind when a person dies.  We who are saved may not have an earthly inheritance that benefits us for a little while and then is left to someone else, but we do have an inheritance in heaven that will last forever.

God is to be praised because He guards those who have faith in Him by His power so that we will be saved eternally when Christ is revealed in the last time.   We have been saved from the penalty that we deserve because of our sin, we are being saved from the power of sin so that we can live “as obedient children” (1 Peter 1:14) , and we are going to be saved from the very presence of sin when Christ is revealed in the last time.

Those of us who are saved have it made!  Praise the Lord!

Bruce Collins

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