1 Peter 1:3-5

Meditations on First Peter.

(Adapted from my weekly men’s email.)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

Let’s start out with this — Blessed be the God and Father. What does it mean that God is blessed? Certainly, there is nothing we can do that adds to God’s situation to make Him happier, better off or more complete. That might be what it means when we are blessed by God, but God is totally complete in and of himself. I think this phrase is a way we human beings can express our praise and adoration and thankfulness for who God is and for all He has done. When we say, “Bless God!” we are thanking and praising God.

Father of our Lord Jesus Christ — I find that sometimes I read right over a phrase like this, wanting to get to the “meat” of the passage, but it is important to think about what Peter is saying here. He is making sure we understand who Jesus is. Remember, Peter is the guy who denied that he even knew Jesus. Now he is acknowledging that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is Lord, and His father is the God who is actually who we are actually praying to. He is the one who accomplishes all that the rest of this passage promises. And remember, this is the same Father we pray to when we pray, “Our Father who is in heaven….” That makes us brothers of Christ because the scripture says, “He is not ashamed to call them brothers” (Hebrews 2:11).

I think we’ll wrap this short devotional at this point. There really is a lot to meditate on this section. Sometimes we just need to slow down and pay attention.