Last Friday my husband and I were blessed to celebrate our sweet 16th Wedding Anniversary! As a special gift he brought me home both a dozen roses and a bunch of mixed flowers. It was such a lovely surprise! Today I was pruning through them and putting the flowers that were still good into one smaller vase. It struck me as I stuffed the dead and dying flowers into a compost bin how perishable the things of this life are. Even the flowers that were such a beautiful and unexpected gift last Friday are now nothing more than compost-able trash.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. 1 Peter 1:3-4a
What an incredible truth this is! In God’s mercy we have a hope that is alive and living. Mercy is when a deserved negative consequence is withheld. Instead of punishing us for our sins as we deserve, God made us reborn through Christ and his resurrection from the dead so that we can now live in the hope and the promise of new life in Christ. Unlike the things of this world, our inheritance will never rot, wilt or fade away. Our faith and our hope is not fruitless. Our hope is alive because Christ is alive, and those who believe in His name will have eternal life with Him. Flowers may die and anniversaries come and go, but we can praise God for an inheritance that is imperishable and for the hope that we hold because of what Christ accomplished on our behalf. Christ is risen and He is alive.
Growing Into Up 