Exiles- A Journey Through 1 Peter
Have you ever benefitted from timely information that was helpful in a specific season of your life?
Someone to help you navigate the ins and outs of a new school?
Travel hacks that made the journey so much more pleasant?
Trusted friends or family members who helped you navigate life with a new child in your home?
You look back on their perspective and insights and you’re grateful that you didn’t have to go it alone during that season of challenge.
Peter’s letter to the “elect exiles” that we know as “1 Peter” is one of those timely helps originally written to recent converts to Christianity who were facing degrees of persecution and suffering for their faith. Peter, one of the original 12 disciples of Jesus, was able to provide them with perspective about the ordeal that they were going through because he had faced persecution and suffering himself and had valuable insights for them as he reminded them to live in the tension of their heavenly citizenship while they had been placed with purpose in proximity to those who didn’t share their faith.
And as much as this letter was so helpful to these followers of Jesus in the first century, we look to Peter’s letter for timely perspective and insights for the season that we’re in – an election year that will surely challenge not only Americans to stay united, but as we saw in 2020, the challenge for Jesus’ Church to “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” will be threatened as well.
Would you begin this new year by confessing to God that you need His perspective and truth in order to live His way in a tumultuous season, relying upon His Spirit to guide you according to His values in this year to come?
And in order to provide for you an overview of this great book that we’re going to study for the first four months of this year, please watch this Bible Project overview of the book of 1 Peter.
Let’s live in 2024 as God’s “elect exiles” together in order to see Jesus’ influence in our community through our unity and love for one another.