Daily Manna · Day 272 · September 29
A Living Hope
“According to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.”
Think of a bunch of cut flowers on the kitchen table. They are truly beautiful, and they were already dying when you carried them home, because that is what being cut means. Much of what we hope in is like that. A job, a treatment plan, a promise somebody made to change: these things are real and lovely, but the stem has been cut. After enough of them wilt, many careful adults quietly stop buying flowers.
Peter is writing to "strangers scattered" across five provinces, people who were "in heaviness through manifold temptations," which means weighed down by many trials. He does not tell them to cheer up. He points them to an empty tomb. God has given us "a lively hope," a living hope, "by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." Then Peter uses three phrases for what God is keeping for them. The word "incorruptible" means it cannot rot, and "undefiled" means nothing can stain it. And "that fadeth not away" is one word in Peter's Greek, amarantos, the word behind the amaranth, a flower people long ago said never wilted. It is as if Peter is standing in the flower shop, pointing at the one bunch that will never die. Then he adds "reserved in heaven for you," which means kept safe and set aside with your name on it.
So bring your careful hope to the God who raised Jesus. You might pray like this: Father, I have been careful with my hope because I have watched so much of it wilt, and I have called that wisdom. Show me the difference between what is cut and what is rooted. Keep what You are keeping for me, and make me want it. Amen.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 272 is Lord and Master (John 13:14).