Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:13
Heavenly Father, you won’t let us get away from thinking about your grace for even one minute, will you? And let me hasten to say, thank you… thank you… thank you!
I praise you for the day you finally convinced the legalist and leper in me that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone. That was the first day I could really sing, “My hope is built on nothing less (and nothing more and nothing other) than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. On Christ the solid Rock I stand… all other ground is sinking sand.” I’m still singing.
I also praise you for the ongoing schooling in the sufficiency of your grace for all the broken things in my life… broken relationships… broken health… broken promises… broken church… broken me. I’ve finished the 1st grade, I think.
And now I praise you for a command that demands setting my hope on yet-to-be-received grace—the unleashed fullness… the unfettered wonder… the undiminished glory of your contra-conditional love for us in Jesus. There is no God like you. There is no God so immeasurably generous with such ill-deserving people, like me.
Father, help me to believe the command to set my hope on future grace is just as much a command to be obeyed as, “Do not lie, do not steal, and do not covet.” You are serious about where we set our hope. You’re so wise and caring. You know if we don’t intentionally and fully set our hope on your grace, we’ll set it somewhere else. On saviors that cannot save… on people who are not God… on gospels that are not gospels… on idols that will ultimately utterly fail us.
Lord Jesus, I’ve never so looked forward to the Day when you will be fully revealed—when the firstfruits of grace will give way to the full harvest of grace—when your gathered Bride will be perfect and the present world made new. Until that Day keep us engaged in your story of redemption and restoration. Where are we to work tirelessly with you for justice? Where are we to show your limitless and lavish mercy? How shall we walk humbly with our God… and one another? So very Amen, we ask and pray, in your trustworthy name.
