1 Peter 1:3-6 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord 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, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

It is clear that the child of God cannot in these times look to the right or the left for purpose, joy or hope. Your focus cannot be on the material, economic or political pronouncements of the day especially when even the natural world around us is groaning with hurricanes, earthquakes, fires and upheavals of all kinds. These things are part of the landscape so to speak. Jesus gave us a full description in Matthew 24.

Peter, in the opening verses of 1 Peter Chapter 1, addressed believers scattered abroad and reminded them of the process by which they had been chosen: “through the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood.” It is because of this why we are able to have peace in abundance no matter what is going on around us. Obedience to Christ means that we are hearing his voice, that we believe in him and that all that he and the Father have promised is true. That is the source of our present joy and future hope. Recognize the value of praising God now, even if at times it is a sacrifice. He is worthy!