Chin - Up

1 Peter 1:13
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Persecutions, trials and temptations are the lot of the Christian. There are hardships without, and with the lack of outward trials there comes the familiar inward trials and irritations; distraction and doubt. These can make us feel that we may never get home to our Father in heaven. Things can look so dark when the heart is cold and all one can see for the moment is the world and its’ darkness. But God encourages us through His word to look up to heaven and to wait for our sure promise, our Jesus.

Our minds may be distracted and our prayers feel weak but our inheritance is sure. God is not dragging us through the darkness of the world into the light of heaven. We are not blinded to Jesus in the everyday of today. We walk in the light. We are the light of the world. We have sight, however dim it may seem at times. We see dimly – but by God’s grace we do see. See what? We are in the light and we see the light, Jesus. We see Him in each other and in ourselves and in God’s word and He meets us in our prayer rooms. We are not consigned to gloom and clouds until Jesus returns. We do not wander aimlessly, waiting to see what we know little of. The more we seek to “see” Jesus now, the more we anticipate the fullness of Him.
Waiting for Jesus is not a resignation of what we cannot have now but an affirmation of all we hope for because we do see Him today. Those who do not eagerly await His coming have forgotten what it is to be near Him and so their expectations have grown weak. The directive to set our hope fully on what we will have may seem to negate the importance of today. And it does in the sense of what we have in this world. But it does not mar the beauty of Christ seen by His people today. We are to seek and search out God’s word for revelations of Jesus so that by cherishing Him more in the present we will be able to look forward to the future. We do not crave what we do not regularly partake of. A craving must be fed to be kept alive. So our craving for the fullness of Christ must be fed by partaking of Him continually.

We are not to resign to a world of darkness as if we do not know our destination. But we rest in that we walk in increasing light. We walk – and Jesus is on His way to meet us. The light increases as time goes on; even so the darkness of the world increases. To set our hope on the future grace to be given us at the revelation of Jesus Christ is to walk with our chins up. We walk looking to where he will come from. We live with our eyes on Him, regardless of how dark it may seem in the given day. We are not to walk with our heads down; watching our own feet. We will only bump into things if we do and they will seem bigger than life itself. No, we must have our heads up – not in pride, but in watchfulness. A runner never runs looking at the ground but he looks to his goal. That is what we are also called to. We need not worry about the pathway, God has made the way for us with His Son.

Chin – up brother, look up sister; God is with you and you are in light if you are in Jesus Christ. Look to the horizon from whence our Savior comes to save us forever. Walk boldly in the light of the one who saves you and who has secured your future for eternity. Look up, for Jesus. His coming is sure.