Daily Worship

The Bigger Picture

Roderick MacLeod May 23, 2017 0 1

1 Peter 3:13-22

13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. ‘Do not fear their threats[a]; do not be frightened.’[b] 15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. 19 After being made alive,[c] he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits – 20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21 and this water symbolises baptism that now saves you also – not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience towards God.[d] It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand – with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

If only we could see the bigger picture! For now, so much of life is a mockery: greed prospers, the vulnerable are abused and our best efforts are scorned. But things are not what they seem. For those who perceive the eternal reality of God’s Kingdom looming larger than the temporary illusion which passes for “real life”, there is no need to collude. God is nearer than we think and he has revealed himself in the person of Jesus. 

 

Merciful Father,

forgive us when we falter,

whether it is in falling for the lies of the world,

or falling short in our faithfulness to you.

 

Deliver us from fruitless distractions,

and sir up within us

a reckless commitment to what really matters

in your eternal Kingdom,

in your economy of grace.