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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1st Peter 1:3–5

This morning, as I read this passage, I was reminded of several others that echo the same message of hope.

Peter points us to the love that God the Father has for us, demonstrated in His great mercy. Naturally, John 3:16 comes to mind:

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

This message is the overarching narrative of the entire Bible—God loves us and desires to be in relationship with us. He’s made a way and that is through our belief and acceptance that Jesus's death on the cross was the substitutionary punishment that we deserved for our sin.

This knowledge, that is our salvation, leads us to what Peter calls our living hope — a hope made possible through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. When I think of the resurrection, one of the first passages that comes to mind is Paul’s defense of it in 1st Corinthians 15. You really need to read the whole chapter to understand the connection fully, but the bottom-line encouragement shows up in verses 56–57:

“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through [the resurrection of] our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Our belief in the resurrection is the present-day living hope that gives us a confidence in our eternal destiny even as we walk through the uncertainty of this life.

Peter goes on to remind us that this hope remains intact because it is given to us by God. That brought to mind one of the most humbling verses in Scripture, Ephesians 2:8 which states,

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

Our salvation is not something we achieve, protect, or maintain in our own strength. Our faith is not upheld by our grip on God — but by God’s grip on us. And as soon as that truth settled in, Romans 8:38–39 echoed loudly in my heart,

“I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

There were so many more passages that came to mind as I read this morning. What struck me most is how often God calls us back to the same truth from different angles: Your salvation began with God, is sustained by God, and will be completed by God. Peter wants his readers—and us—to know that our hope isn’t fragile. It isn’t dependent on how strong our faith feels today. It rests entirely on the finished work of Christ and the faithful character of the Father.

And that means our hope is not wishful thinking. It’s alive.

So, as you walk through whatever this day brings—joys, uncertainties, challenges, or even fears—stand on the same foundation Peter stood on: God will keep us until that day when eternity begins our happily ever after.

May that truth steady your heart today as it has mine.