Devotion • November 28
Today’s Scripture Reading
1 Peter 1:13–25
Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God. Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.
For “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” That word is the good news that was announced to you. (NRSV)
Reflection
This passage holds many messages. It instructs, inspires, awakens, calls, sends. But as I read it, the clear messages are twofold — first, we follow a God who so loved the world, yes, loved the world with such passion, such awakening joy, such deep and abiding hope, that God gave us Jesus.
God came in Jesus to dwell in mortal skin, to walk a mortal walk, to become flesh that died, yes, truly died. It was God who leaned into love and with abandon looked into your eyes, my eyes, your daughter’s eyes, and your dad’s also, and spoke a message: “I will never ever leave you. I will not let your despair, your worry, your heartbreak be the last word. No, because when I walked with you on this earth and as I still walk with you this day, I am never giving up on you and yours.”
This message is from the God who continuously pursues us. Poet Francis Thompson used as the image for God the “hound of heaven” — this hound pursues us with an unrelenting joy and a deep fusion of love each and every day. This hound of heaven loves the demanding pursuit as much as the prize at the end of it. That is the first message.
The second message is that we are to love others “deeply from the heart.” This is a bless-your-heart kind of love. This is a love that arises from both hearts broken and hearts healed by the mercy of the hound of heaven! And such love is a washing-over love, a showering love, one where we find ourselves doing things for others we never thought we had in us. This kind of love is almost spoken in whispers because it is so precious; this kind of love sings out the joy of living with a brave bravado; this kind of love reaches for God’s hand and the hands of others. This is the good news of the gospel — a love so amazing, so divine it demands our life, our soul, our all.
Prayer
O God, in your holy pursuit of us, you never give up on us. And your seeking love finds us this day. In finding us, make ready our lives to reach into the lives of others with love beyond measure. Through Jesus we pray. Amen.
Written by Lucy Forster-Smith, Senior Associate Pastor
Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church
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