1 Peter 1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ… To the Christian the future life is not merely a subject of anticipation, but of confident and well-grounded assurance. Our Saviour seemed specially anxious to impress this fact on the minds of His disciples. He said to them, "Because I live, ye shall live also." Well, now we know that Christ lives. The existence of the Church of Christ today is an unmistakable evidence of the existence and continued activity of Christ. And if Christ lives, then we shall live also. What ought to be the influence of these anticipations on our life as Christian men and women here? I. THESE ANTICIPATIONS OUGHT TO HAVE A PLACE IN OUR THOUGHTS, IN OUR CONVERSATIONS, IN OUR PRAYERS, IN OUR AFFECTIONS, AND IN THE ACTIVITIES OF OUR LIVES. It is the fashion of some preachers to decry this "other world religion," as they call it. They say, "We have nothing whatever to do with the other world; the present life demands all our care," and they would severely repress all interest in the future life. The human heart rebels against all such unnatural restriction. You may just as well say to the mariner, "Because there are rocks and quicksands in the course which you have to take you must never lift up your eyes to the stars, but keep them steadily fixed on the waters you have to cross." "Why," he would say, "I guide my way across the waters of this world by the light of other worlds." And so the Christian mariner can say, "I guide my course through this world by the light and the hope and the influence of the other world." II. OUR THOUGHTS OF THE FUTURE LIFE SHOULD BE CHARACTERISED BY MODERATION, REVERENCE, AND SPIRITUALITY. Let us be content with the beautiful simplicity and lofty spirituality of the New Testament representations as a life of glorious spiritual progress, of freedom from sin, holy love, honourable service, delightful fellowship, and a growing likeness to Christ; "We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is," We shall be with Him, and we shall do Him service. (F. Binns.) Parallel Verses KJV: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, |
    |