My husband gets nervous when our kids are in the water, because, his words, “humans are land creatures.” Even now that they can swim, it makes him uncomfortable.
A few years ago, we were at a friend’s house and our kids were swimming in their pool and Dewy said to Brandon, “Daddy, can I go to the deep end?”
“I don’t know, Love, I’m not sure you’re ready for that yet.”
A few minutes later, she said, “Daddy, can I get in the hot tub?”
“I don’t know, Love, that water gets pretty choppy.”
Then, “Daddy, watch me do a trick.”
“Please be careful love, you don’t really know how to swim yet.”
Finally, our friend said to him, “Bro, calm down, she’s wearing a life vest.”
And she was. She never got in a pool, at that point, without a life vest. So, in spite of any parental anxiety or worry, Dewy couldn’t sink.
It doesn’t matter how deep the water is. Dewy can’t sink. It doesn’t matter how choppy it gets. Dewy can’t sink. It doesn’t matter if she can’t quite execute her water twirl or even if a sister smashes into her in the water. Dewy has a life vest, so Dewy can’t sink. Dewy floats.
That is what the gospel offers our hearts, even in the midst of the deep sad.
In the book of 1 Peter, the Apostle Peter is writing to Christians in the first century and to Christians today, helping us realize that in all the seeming hopelessness we live in, we have, in Jesus, something that cannot sink. We have living hope. Unsinkable hope.
Do you have a real hope that functions for you like Dewy’s life vest? Do you have something that keeps your soul buoyed in dark days? Do you have anything in your life that supports your joy when your joy finds itself descending into the depths?
You don’t need me to convince you that you will have those seasons. We know the world we live in is a world of suffering. In fact, my daughter Dewy’s real name is Brooklyn Hope Hiltibidal. Brooklyn means “from the land of the broken” and we wanted our daughter’s name to mean “hope in the land of the broken.” But then, our oldest started calling her “Dewy.” Doesn’t quite have the same spiritual impact.
My d name aside, we live in the land of the broken, and we know it. We live in a world of sickness and suicide. Ours is a land of political turmoil, economic doubt, and actual wars. We live in the home of the deep sad.
And you have whatever brokenness is in your mind right now that you are currently living with. Maybe your chin today is just above the water line of hopelessness. What hope do we have?
Well, Peter, writing 2000 years ago, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, was writing to us, yes, but his original audience was a people in a more difficult situation than anything we find ourselves in.
Look at the first two verses of 1 Peter, chapter 1.
“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ: To those chosen, living as exiles dispersed abroad in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you.”
The first hearers of Peter’s letter were “those chosen, living in exiles dispersed abroad.” This is super important for our understanding of hope. Peter was writing to Christians in unfathomably difficult circumstances. Strong hostility and opposition forced them out of town, and so they became exiles, dispersed around the nations. Peter was writing at the beginning of one of the most intense seasons of persecution in the history of the church. Christians were being exiled and marginalized, and very soon, Christians would be killed.
And it’s not like they didn’t have all the other struggles we have. They had our difficulties worse than we have them. The Christians in the first century had Mondays, but they didn’t have Keurigs. They broke bones, but there was no Ibuprofen. I’ve read that the average lifespan at this time in history was 35-40 years old[1]. We can’t even really imagine their lives.
Short, difficult lives in the face of harsh persecution, and Peter says to them,
“Chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you.”
But it’s in the next three verses that the living hope shows up.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of 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 is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”
How beautiful. Peter writes, “God…has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
What I pray our hearts can hold onto as we look for hope in this life is that hope is a gift. It is a gift, because it is an outcome of the new birth that is only available through the resurrection of Jesus. Again, “he has given us new birth in a living hope.”
There was certainly nothing I could do to give myself hope, lying on the floor when I had that phone call with my mom. I couldn’t find hope; I had to be filled with it. We can’t grab hope; we have to be given it. And when it is given to us through Jesus, Peter tells us what it looks like.
Jesus’ hope is, of many things, the hope of a perfect future. “Because of 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 is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.”
Most people rush to the second half of that passage. We have hope, many think, because one day we’ll make it to the golden shores of heaven where we’ll inherit all that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. We can keep hanging on because one day, many say, we’ll go from the chaos, tears, death, grief, and pain of right now to the peace of Revelation 21: “Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.”
And the many are right. All of that is true. In Jesus, we do have the sure hope of a heavenly future and eternal inheritance. This perfect future is something we are given by God. But that’s not all Peter says we are given. He says we’re also given a present hope. Look again at the passage, but this time, focus on the tense of when our hope was given:
“Because of 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 is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.”
Do we have to wait to enter into the living hope God promises us? No. God has already given this to us. It’s for today, not just tomorrow.
Read more from Scarlet Hiltibidal in Hopeful-ish: Sadness, Weariness, Donkey Attacks, More Sadness, and Other Stuff You Need the Gospel For.
Work Cited
1. Simon Turpin, “Did Moses Really Live 120 Years?” Answers in Genesis, March 28, 2023, https://answersingenesis.org/bible-questions/did-moses-really-live-120-years/#:~:text=Although%20Exodus%202:23%20simply,any%20evidence%20should%20be%20understood.
