Doubt & Devotion

1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

There are so many things a believer could bless God for. After all, He is the Father of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and we are His children. It is only fitting that we speak well of Him for the several effects of divine mercy that he has bestowed upon us. All His works are wonderful, and we can rest assured that He performs all of them according to His compassion.

Of all his merciful acts, nothing is worth more our gratitude than the reality of regeneration. His mercy is an expression of His covenant with us—the New Covenant in Christ. It is the manifestation of the intimate relationship we have with Him, and through it, we have been born again. We have been begotten once, physically, but we have been begotten a second time through God’s mercy.

This is not just a merciful act but an honorable one. It is God’s way of showing us that he honors us as his children. It was through this rebirth that He has incorporated us into His family, a radical transformation from death to life. This transformation has made us obedient children of God and serves as the ground for us to be holy and to hunger for “pure spiritual milk.”

Through this rebirth, we have hope, but not just any hope, but a living one. Hope is a rare commodity nowadays, but as children of God, we have hope that is alive and causes us to be alive. This hope separates us from the world, which is without God, and is therefore, without hope. Followers of Christ stood out from their contemporaries in ancient times even in the face of abuse and suffering. In the same way, modern believers can overcome trials and temptations because of the hope and holiness we have in Christ.

We bless the name of God for all of this because of one thing and one thing only: the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. As the quintessential demonstration of God’s animating power, the resurrection is the source of our hope and the reason we can trust God to sustain us in spite of everything.

Father, I thank you for your divine mercy, through which I have been born again. Give me strength to walk daily in the living hope you have given me. I want to honor you with a life of holiness and gratitude. Amen.

Eric James Estante

Eric has a deep passion for teaching God’s Word. He holds a degree in Theology from Central Philippine University and is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Guidance and Counseling. He served as an associate pastor in his local church in Iloilo City for four years. Eric currently volunteers with his wife, Joey, teaching biblical marriage principles at their church in Alabang. They have one son.