7-16-25   THOUGHTS

We continue from yesterday’s reading.  The words FOREKNOWN and APPEARED in verse 20 below are most significant.  The presentation of  The Christ from before the beginning of time to the “fullness of times” is a large and profound part of its beauty and glory!  “Blood” and “Lamb” are two terms that provide awesome brush strokes in this lavish picture of man’s salvation.  LIFE is here, powerfully!  “Obedience to the TRUTH”  is man’s response to God’s wonderful grace and mercy in Christ Jesus.  Our “love to one another fervently” is fundamental to God’s intention for us!  We must absorb the power in verse 23!  THE IMPERISHABLE SEED BRINGS NEW BIRTH THROUGH JESUS!

1Pet 1 :18-23    knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers,  19  but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. 20  For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you 21  who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.  22  Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart,  23  for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.  

A Prayer:
Lord increase our faith and hope.  May the picture drawn in this reading bring us to a new birth that drives our love for each other and for every neighbor we meet.  Help us to seek each other out for love and good works. May the Body of Christ expand in Rescue as the world around us sees our love.  Help us to see apathy and comfort as enemies of the Cross!  Arouse us, O God, to see that the fields are “white for harvest”!   In the name of The Christ,   Amen.