OUR LOVE FOR CHRIST: OUR LIVING HOPE

SATURDAY 18 SEPTEMBER 2021

Christ is our living hope and He dwells in our hearts through faith. For this reason, we love and trust Him and also, we can be grounded in this love, even though we've never seen Him.

Reference: 1 Peter 1:8 New Living Translation (NLT) "You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy."

There are three revelational truths in this Scripture. The first is that we love Christ, whom we've never seen, "since natural birth." The second is that we trust and believe Him now, the Christ we've never seen, which means "at present" or "at this moment in time". The third is that we greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible, full of glory, which means this knowledge brings extravagant joy that enables us to experience meaningful life in our Christian walk.

How can you love or trust the Christ you've never seen since you were born into this world? This is because you are now a born again Christian, which means that your spirit is alive to God. Colossians 2:13 (NLT) says, "You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins."

Romans 6:10-11 (MSG) also reads, "When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That's what Jesus did." For the reason of our spirit, being alive to God, we can love and trust the Christ we've never seen before.

Beloved, with the eyes of the spirit, we bring the mystery of spiritual reality down to earth. No wonder 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJV) says, "For we walk by faith, not by sight." That means, seeing through our spiritual eyes, we love the unseen Christ and we can expand our view or broaden our horizon of His reality in our world. This journey of walking by faith is the journey that empowers us to love Christ and live fully according to God's will and by His enabling grace.

To live a sustainable, dedicated Christian life, you must have the personal revelation of Christ as the Son of God. Paul says, "Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord..." (Philippians 3:8 NLT). Knowing Christ is loving Christ, and you can't really be dedicated in your faith walk or become sold out to God, without the love for Christ Himself. In fact, our degree of dedication to loving Christ determines the level of God's glory we experience on earth. Do you know who Christ Jesus is? He is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being. John 1:3 tells us that God created everything through Him, and nothing was created except through Him (NLT).

The Scripture says, "In these last days God has spoken to us by His Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also He made the universe...After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven." (see Hebrews 1:1-3 NIV). If you don't love Christ, you have no business with God. The secret of your personal relationship with God that works through constant fellowship is your love for Christ and His knowledge. Colossians 1:27 says, "And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing His glory" (NLT).

Why do we rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy? It's because Christ is our living hope. Without Christ, we don't have hope to live gracefully in this world and to live eternally beyond this world. The Bible says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3 ESV). Beloved, by keeping our hope alive in Christ, we experience the unspeakable joy of living with the great expectation of sharing His glory. Shalom!

Scripture Reading - Mark 12:33; Romans 8:28; 1 Corinthians 8:3; Ephesians 3:17-19; Hebrews 3:6; 2 Thessalonians 2:16; 1 John 4:19.

Exuberant Declaration: Christ dwells in my heart by faith and I'm rooted and grounded in His love, which surpasses all knowledge. My love for Him is based on His growing knowledge in me and nothing is as wonderful as knowing Jesus as Lord. I'm found in Christ and I wear His righteousness, I'm united with Him and daily, I'm being made inwardly conformable unto His image. Hallelujah!