What do you hope for? Wish for? We use the word hope all the time, don’t we? I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow. I hope my favorite team has a championship season. I hope my son or daughter gets into the college they have been dreaming of. I hope this new format, where you can watch and listen to our daily devos, is beneficial to you. But hope in Scripture is not something that may or may not happen. Hope is our confidence that something will happen based on the promises of God.

Today we start a new series of devotionals called Living Hope. Our hope is secured in the living God, who always keeps his promises. While we will use many passages in Scripture, 1 Peter will be our base. So, let’s start with the first two verses of this letter.

1 Peter 1:1-2 (NASB)
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as strangers, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Peter calls believers—those who have been chosen and set apart to serve Jesus—as strangers in the world. Do you ever feel like a stranger? Like you don’t quite fit in. Like you just can’t get comfortable in your surroundings. Like maybe you don’t really belong here. Well, if you belong to Jesus, you don’t belong here! You are caught between two worlds.

Those who have been chosen by God—bought with the blood of Christ and set apart by the Holy Spirit are strangers in this world. Don’t get too comfortable here. Fitting in is not what we are called to do. We are not settlers. We are on a journey to another world. We have been transformed for an eternal place.   

So, remember, don’t get too comfortable. Don’t settle down in Satan’s domain. We are like fish out of water. This world is on the clock. We were reborn for a place where no one wears a watch. And a great aspect of the journey is that we can do it together. So, let’s encourage one another all the way home. 

Father, may we hold the uncertain things of this earth loosely and the certainty of heaven with a firm grasp. Help us live with and demonstrate the living hope within us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.