A Mantle Made for You

A Mantle Made for You

John 1:14: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth....16, For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.

In my early educational life I used to dread taking a test. In my later life I began to appreciate the importance of a test or exam. 

A test does at least three beneficial things:  

It gives us an incentive and reason to learn and prepare 

Taking and passing the test verifies that we have entered into a new level of knowledge and understanding. 

Greater empowerment follows a successful test and new opportunities follow 

The principle is this: You become what you learn and greater skill takes you to go to greater places. 

When the Bible talks about going from grace to grace, increasing in every way is part of what it means. God designed us to grow and to develop, and to bear fruit. Make no mistake, God designed you to be successful, but that success comes at the price of process. 

God cares so much for us because of the price Jesus paid to redeem us, or buy us back from this world and form our sinful nature.

1 Peter 1:18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot....21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Barclay: “The result of this rebirth is that the man who is reborn becomes the first fruits of a new creation (Jas. 1:18). It lifts him out of this world of space and time, of change and decay, of sin and defeat, and brings him here and now into touch with eternity and eternal life. 

Our new life and all the new things that come are because of Jesus’ resurrection. This is our LIVING HOPE!