I Peter 1:17-23 (NRSV)
Read I Peter 1:17-23 on biblegateway.com
Verse 17If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. Verse 18You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, Verse 19but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. Verse 20He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. Verse 21Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God. Verse 22Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. Verse 23You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.
Devotion
“Through him you have come to trust in God.”
One of the important tenets of my faith is the confession that Jesus was fully human. Not God with a mask on, but a human being, like you and me. So I can believe that God does truly understand me.
And as a human being, Jesus paid attention to people—to hurting people, people considered by some as less. He saw them in the way we would all like to be seen: as real, as having value. Sinners welcomed him, ate with him, were comfortable with him. He rubbed some people the wrong way, but not the sinners. They liked him. What’s not to like? Good story teller. Changes water into wine. Great with kids. Didn’t yell. Maybe once, but not usually. He was kind to all who needed a dose of kindness.
Jesus shows us what it means to be fully human. And so yes, through Jesus, I trust in God. So yes, I’m a follower of Jesus.
Prayer
What a friend I have in Jesus, all my sins and griefs to bear. And what a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer. Amen. (ELW 742, alt.)