I Peter 1:3-5 tells us: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.”  Our hope is alive!  The definition of the word “hope” is “present contentment based on future prospects”.  As a child of God, our prospects for the future are great!  We can have contentment through our trials and testing because we have a lively hope, not a dead hope or a hope so, hope.  What makes it such a lively hope?  The resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Because He lives, our hope is alive.  One day, because of His resurrection, every saved person will also resurrect to meet Him in the air (I Thessalonians 4:13-18).  We are just passing through this place.  We are strangers scattered abroad on this earth to be a witness for Him.  In I Peter 1:2, we see that the Holy Trinity was involved in our salvation.  It says: “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ…”  It should give us a lively hope knowing that we were chosen by the Father when we chose to receive His Son.  We were sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ!  Where would we be without the shed blood of Jesus?  It not only saves us, but it also keeps us clean.  That knowledge of our salvation so excited Peter that he simply could not help himself; he burst out in praise in verses 3-5 of I Peter 1.  He said: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…”.  Used in this context, the word “blessed” means “to praise and glorify God for the benefits received”.  Not only that, it is to magnify God for His excellency.

Sometimes we do not know how to properly praise God.  If you have trouble in that area just read the Psalms!  King David knew how to bless his God!  God is worthy of all blessings, honor, and glory!  There is no god like our God!  Not only are we strangers, chosen, sanctified, and washed in the blood of Christ, but we are also begotten!  I Peter 1;3 says: “according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us…”.  That means when we got saved, we were born of God.  Our spiritual birth is as important as our physical birth.  According to the Bible, before we were saved we were a child of the devil.  When we are born again, we become a child of God, we are begotten of God.  Jesus said in John 3:3: “… Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  I John 5:1 & 4 says: “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him.  For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”  That should give us hope!  We are overcomers!    I Peter 1:4 tells us, we have an incorruptible inheritance reserved for us in heaven!  It says that it is undefiled, and will not fade away! Romans 8:17: “And if children, then heirs: heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ…”  Now that is something to look forward to!  Finally, I Peter 1:5 tells us that we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation!  We are kept by the power of God; we can never be lost again!  But, if you have not been saved, you do not have the lively hope of God’s great plan of salvation nor any of its benefits!  Think about that!