I PETER 1:3-9 The Gigantic Secret 1:6 WHERIN YE GREATLY REJOICE G.K.Chesterton wrote, “Joy, which was the small publicity of the pagan, is the gigantic secret of the Christian.” What Chesterton meant was that the mass of people in the world without Christ can only be happy about the little things in life and be sad about the really big things. For example, death and eternity –the big things – are terrors to be denied or faced stoically. All there is to be happy about are the little things like health, money, friends, houses, and vacations. The best the unbeliever can do in this miserable state of affairs is to make ado about nothing and create a publicity of the small and insignificant. Worthless things carry big price tags and command big advertising campaigns. The Christian, on the other hand, may have much to be sad about, for persecution and death may be at hand, as they were for Peter’s readers. But these are small things compared to the forgiveness of sins and the prospect of an eternity of joy in the presence of God. Joy is indeed “the gigantic secret of the Christian.” How gigantic? It is so big that it filled Peter’s audience of believer’s “with an inexpressible and glorious joy” (1:8). This is truly amazing because their joy came from love and faith in someone they had not seen. Peter must have been delighted in these believers since he had seen the Lord and they had not. Are you a Christian? Does your faith bring you the kind of joy Peter describes? If it doesn’t, you need to dig deeper channels in your soul for the joy to flow into. There is no better way to do this than to pray this great passage and others like it, and pray often. Make it personal; change the pronouns to “I,” “me” and “my”. Get a commentary on 1 Peter or a Bible dictionary and soak in the meaning of Peter’s theological vocabulary. Word’s and phrases like “new birth,” “living hope,” “resurrection” and “an inheritance that can never perish” will make room in your heart and mind for more truth, and with it “an inexpressible and glorious joy.” P R A Y My heart is narrow and my capacity for joy is too small. Dear Lord, open my eyes to see your gigantic goodness and Expand my heart to sing your praise with inexpressible and glorious joy.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 07:19:40 +0000
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