Peter – A Breath of Fresh Air!
Back to the Future, the movie that captured our attention in 1985, was pop art that takes a young man forward and backward in his life on earth. He altered life situations. He sees what life was like for his father and understands why he behaves like he does today. He also catches a glimpse of what his own life will be like in the future.
Back to the Future is a movie that entertains but also make us think about our own future which is also speeding by like a modified DeLorean. What we do now affects everything about our future selves. We can’t go back to our old life, says Peter, we must move forward, with energy and gusto with our new life in Christ. Don’t go back, go forward with Christ. “Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God.” Peter’s words are more powerful than a souped up DeLorean! Our “new birth comes from God’s living Word.” “So love each other like your lives depended on it.” “It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ….”
Which character are we trying to imitate from the movie these days? The empty headed Biff who keeps doing obnoxious antics to get attention? Are we the doc who is trying to control time in space? Are we Marty who thinks we have to fix or alter all situations? I hope we work to live like none of these characters but at times we seem to behave a bit like all of them.
God controls our future. God IS our future. We don’t need to go back in time unless you need to remember all that God brought us through when we repented and surrendered all to Him. “Your new life is not like your old life.”
1 Peter 1, The Message
Part Three
A Future in God
13-16 So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that’s coming when Jesus arrives. Don’t lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn’t know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, “I am holy; you be holy.”
17 You call out to God for help and he helps—he’s a good Father that way. But don’t forget, he’s also a responsible Father, and won’t let you get by with sloppy living.
18-21 Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ’s sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. And this was no afterthought. Even though it has only lately—at the end of the ages—become public knowledge, God always knew he was going to do this for you. It’s because of this sacrificed Messiah, whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future in God.
22-25 Now that you’ve cleaned up your lives by following the truth, love one another as if your lives depended on it. Your new life is not like your old life. Your old birth came from mortal sperm; your new birth comes from God’s living Word. Just think: a life conceived by God himself! That’s why the prophet said,
The old life is a grass life,
its beauty as short-lived as wildflowers;
Grass dries up, flowers droop,
God’s Word goes on and on forever.
This is the Word that conceived the new life in you.
Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you, thank you, thank you for this new life, renewed health, refreshed soul all because of Christ! You knew from the beginning of time what it would take to restore our relationship with You. You made a way to secure our future. Thank you. Help us all today not to go back but to move forward on this brief earth journey with a deeper reverence and consciousness of You. Continue to transform me.
In Jesus Name, Amen
