My neighbor was right-on about the cactus on her front porch
railing. Its spectacular blooms would last a day. I was there with a camera the
morning they opened, and I wasn’t disappointed. Who would guess that such
beauty could emerge from such unfriendly, thorny plants?
I thought of the Bible’s similar observation about transient
things in 1 Peter 1:24-25, quoting Isaiah 40:6-8:
All men are like grass
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the
flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.
It’s easy to pluck out these verses and go no further. But
the context says a lot more. In the preceding verses, Peter says being “born
again” in Jesus means we have “imperishable” seed within us. Then, after
quoting Isaiah, he continues:
And this is the word
that was preached to you. Therefore, rid
yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every
kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure
spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you
have tasted that the Lord is good. (1
Peter 1:25b-2:3)
In other words, bloom for Jesus for all you’re worth! If your life contains any of the negative
characteristics he listed, something’s not right between you and Jesus. It’s a
pretty grim list, too. Eugene Peterson paraphrased it this way: “So clean
house! Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk.” Ouch! All of those are like cactus thorns!
Need a soul boost? Go back and read the entire first chapter
of 1 Peter that ends with the verses quoted above. It seems that Peter is so
overwhelmed by the Lord’s gracious redemptive work in his life that he can’t
contain himself. His faith flowers
forth, and not just for a day!
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