Second Sunday in Easter - Rejoice! Christ Is Risen!
Goes along with Kids Devotion of the same title.
Even in our sufferings, we can rejoice in the Resurrection!
Read 1 Peter 1:3-9.
Bible Focus: “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith - more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire - may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” -1 Peter 1:6-7
Christ is risen!
Those three words are the Gospel in a nutshell. We can expand on them, of course, add more details - and that’s what Peter is doing in today’s reading. If “Christ is risen” is the nutshell, 1 Peter 1:3-9 is the whole tree.
Here are just a few of the wonderful details Peter gives us. Because Christ is risen…
We have been born again;
We have a living hope;
We are heirs of the Father;
We are guarded by God’s power;
We have salvation;
We have inexpressible joy!
Peter was writing to people just like us. His readers were suffering for their faith. They doubted God’s love for them and his ability and willingness to do anything to ease their suffering. We, too, suffer trials and tribulations. Christ is risen, but that doesn’t mean all of our troubles have ceased to exist. It can be challenging to trust that God loves and cares for us, especially when we do not see him with our physical eyes.
As Peter says, however, because Christ is risen, we can rejoice even when we are suffering! Our sufferings are nothing compared to what Christ has saved us from. They are nothing compared to what is waiting for us with the Father. Our salvation is sure. Our inheritance is imperishable. Our faith is more precious than gold.
Verse 9 talks about the “outcome” of our faith. We might wish that the outcome would be an earthly life without trials and tribulations, but that is not the case. The outcome of our faith will not be seen until we get to Heaven. For now, we will be tested daily by worldly troubles. Because Christ is risen, we will not be overcome by them. Thanks be to God!
Your challenge this week:
Write one of Peter’s details on a sticky note, and post it somewhere you will see it.
Please pray:
Dear Jesus, I praise you for your resurrection from the dead! I confess that when I have trouble, I don’t always trust in your resurrection. Thank you for dying and rising for me even though I doubt you. I ask that you would reassure me of my hope in you. In your name I pray, Amen.
