Third Sunday in Easter - Hooray, We’re in Exile!

Goes along with Adult Devotion of the same title.

We don’t belong in this world, but we get to make it more like Heaven!

Read 1 Peter 1:17-25.

Bible Focus: “And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile.” -1 Peter 1:17

In today’s reading, Peter says that we - that is, all believers in Jesus - are in exile. That means that we are here, on Earth, but we were forced to be here. This is not where we are supposed to be. We belong somewhere else, somewhere much better: Heaven!

We belong in Heaven, but it’s not because of anything we’ve done. After all, we are sinners! We’ve done too many bad things. We can’t be good enough to get to Heaven on our own. We belong in Heaven because of what Jesus has done. Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the dead so that we could go to Heaven someday.

The Bible tells us that Heaven is better than we could ever imagine! There won’t be any more sickness or sadness or death. Everything will be perfect, all the time, forever. Think about the best day you’ve ever had, and multiply it by a million, and that’s what Heaven will be like.

Now think about the worst day you’ve ever had. Was there anything you could have done to make it better? Today’s reading reminds us not only of Heaven, but of our job here on Earth. Peter tells us to be faithful and obedient to God’s Word, and to love one another. So when we have the chance to make this world more like Heaven, it’s our job to take that chance. Because of what Jesus did for us, we can make this world a better place!

Your challenge this week:

Think about how you, personally, can make this world more like Heaven.

Please pray:

Dear Jesus, because of you, I get to go to Heaven! I confess that I sometimes forget what my job is while I wait to go to Heaven. Thank you for giving me the ability to do good things while I’m here on Earth. I ask that you would help me make Earth more like Heaven. In your name I pray, Amen.