The test of Easter. How well can you apply the power of Christ’s resurrection to your daily life? Saint Peter directs us to the trials of our faith.
Peter writes to Christians who face growing rejection, with more severe persecution on the way. Their faith is threatened. Peter understands their problem, for he painfully remembers promising to defend his Lord and then denying Him when under pressure.
We face trials of various kinds. Our Christian life-style faces the ridicule of a secular world bent on selfish living. We are pressed to abandon faithful marriages, concerned parenting, active church participation, and clean living. We also face the trial of faith in our failures. When we fall short in our Christian living, we often, like Peter, feel defeated. A third trial of faith comes to us by external circumstances such as the death of a loved one, illness, or financial reverses.
But Peter redirects his audience to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. “In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3). Jesus reached out to Peter in the upper room and at the Sea of Galilee. Assured of forgiveness, Peter was able to live boldly amidst trials and feed the lambs and sheep of God.
Christ lives. Christ lives in us. He stands with us in our trials, forgiving, strengthening, and comforting us with His resurrection. Through Word and sacrament He fills us with a living hope.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank You for giving me a living hope through Your resurrection. Help me to face the trials in my life. Amen.
(Devotions from “My Daily Devotion” by Dr. Stephen J. Carter, copyright 1988 CPH. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be printed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of Concordia Publishing House. For ordering information, please contact CPH at 800-325-3040 or visit www.cph.org.)