3 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, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith–more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire–may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Jesus is faithful! God is faithful! He saved us, healed us, brought us back into right standing in him through Christ. When we go through “diverse trials and temptations”(James 1) let us come out rejoicing and praising the faithfulness of God and the revelation of what have through the cross.  Jesus was made to be the propitiation for our sin out of love! (1 John 4:10), in that all of God’s wrath towards all of mankind’s sin was satisfied on Jesus  at the cross and Jesus was then reconciled back unto God.  Because of that act of love, we can experience God’s unmerited love towards us as sinners and have the oppurutnity through us accepting what Jesus did to live in right standing and clean before God. 

I’m excited! Peter says it oh so well with the phrase “joy that is inexpressible”.  I hope that in this crazy time we live in with all the financial down time, hurt and pain and confusion of society and families, differences in expressions of our faith, that we do not forget the true love that was displayed for us by Jesus’ death that we may know real love  and find life with him. Let us take time to rejoice together and continue to share this good news that whoever finds God truly finds life!

I have to say so far I am excited about the book.  So let’s get started!

Craig’s Thoughts (through my brain that is ) 

Straight up Craig delves into an issue which I have long believed was a key in all relationships.  He talks about the need to seek Christ, The One, before you seek “the one.” That buy loving and knowing the love of Christ, you will be better able to love your future/current mate, which Craig calls “The Two.”  He goes on to say that by “loving your Two is one of the best ways to love the One.”

My Thoughts 

Seeking after Christ as one of our main life priorities gives us a better idea of what it means to love your neighbor.  I believe that we are unable to love our neighbor/friends/mates/whoever the way Christ wants us to if we do not know Christ’s love for us. Ed Gungor, pastor of Peoples Church, tells a story about a man who swore he hated people.  After people talking to him about getting to the point of letting God love people through him.  It worked, he still said he didn’t like people but couldn’t resist the urge to love people, giving them hugs and greetings them.  God’s love will allow us to see past barriers and issues and love people where our human comprehension would never fathom.

 Do you have a story of a situation where God’s love did amazing things through you?