Peter writes to New Testament believers who are struggling with life, and the first thing he does is to remind them that they are God’s children. He reminds them of the mercy they have experienced, the expectation that is theirs, the holiness God calls them to, the love expressions they are to give to others, and something of the purpose God has for them. But it was part of a verse in the second chapter that grabbed my attention. Grow into a full experience of salvation. Looking at the whole of Peter’s letter, I realized Peter said much of what a full experience of salvation was to look like, beginning with becoming a child of God through faith in what Jesus has done for me. From there, a full experience of salvation enlarges into a growing knowledge of His grace and mercy, a hope that transcends adversity, a holiness that makes me more like the God whose child I am, a focus on others that is compelled to give, and all of it helping me to fulfill the potential God has for me.
How though do I encourage the enlarging that makes a full experience of salvation real and vital in my life? The context of the verse gives us a lot to contemplate. First, another beginning. I must own the identity that is mine. I am a child of God. I am chosen. I belong to God. I have been called out of darkness into His light. I have tasted of His kindness, His mercy, His grace, and His peace. But there is so much more!! I need a craving for spiritual truth, insights, and principles. I need to be nourished spiritually by those things, but I need to cry out as the psalmist did for my hunger and my thirst to be satisfied. And I keep on reaching for still more. And then, I must set a direction. A godly one. One that chooses to honor God. One that loves. One that gives. One that obeys.
A full experience of salvation. What is it Peter is really encouraging? What is it we really want? I believe that what so many of us want is a relationship with God that pulses with reality, transcends all the moments of our lives, invades our desires and our choices, and saturates the very core of who we are. Like the mom who grieves for her child who is alive in the presence of Jesus, but her heart has been torn by her loss and the darkness of emptiness has descended, and yet she reaches in her every moment for the hope and embrace of her God, and in her weariness, she just lets her God carry her in His arms. Like Renee. Renee says it best. She will tell you she danced the last dance, but she has not sung the last song. Renee is a quadriplegic whose relationship with God transcends the moments of her life, and she literally sings the song God has saturated the core of her being with. Like Charlie. Just three, but he loves Jesus, and when you have that theological discussion you can only have with a three year old and you tell him, Jesus is coming for us some day, Charlie stands at the door with expectancy. It wasn’t Jesus who walked through the door, but Charlie was ready. Jesus is coming! And as the door starts to open, God???
A full experience of salvation. I long for it. I have tasted, but I long for still more.
– Bev
(Related Bible reading:1 Peter 2:1-10)
