Opening Prayer
Lord, draw our thoughts heavenward. Amen.
Text: First Peter 1:3–6
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, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials.
Devotion
All believers are regenerate children of God and have an eternal inheritance waiting. We are strangers on earth and eager for heaven. “Human life, you are a journey. You are not the true life! But only few know you, you charming, alluring thing! Most believe in you instead of unmasking you. They consider you as their life, and you rob them of life. Woe is me if I do not see life where eternity rules! Flee away then, you fleeting life, and we will flee from you before you flee from us! Those who love you are led astray, and those who believe in you are deceived, but those who hate you are rich, and those who escape you are saved. So let us not serve the passing pleasures of this life, for if we do, we rejoice that the day of despair is coming. Let us not fill ourselves here only to be hungry forever, nor drink here and be thirsty forever! Pilgrims are eager to go home. During the journey they have worry and work. In their homeland they have rest. Arise, let us run so that we may come home! May our love, our desire, and our heart’s joy be directed upward! Where our Father is in heaven, there is our homeland. In our school this proverb is always fitting: “Vita-via!” (Life is a journey.) May our spirit be filled with heavenly thoughts and images!
Let us not become dependent on this world’s gilded dirt, the dust that our pilgrim feet trod! Let us with all our powers sing: “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” (Psa 42:2). “For I have a desire to depart and be with Christ” (Phi 1:23). Let us tread all sluggishness under our feet, do away with all lukewarmness, and together strive to be pleasing to Him, in whose presence we walk, and with untarnished conscience to leave our exile for the eternal blessed homeland of our heavenly Father, from the visible to the invisible, from sorrow to joy, from what passes away to what stands forever, from the earthly to the heavenly, from belonging to death to the land of the living, where we shall see the King, our Lord Jesus Christ, face to face in His glory” (Columba).
The inheritance is safely guarded in heaven, and by faith we are faithfully guarded through all dangers. Take note of the Holy Spirit’s words in our Bible passage concerning this double “preservation.” Do you doubt that the inheritance is securely guarded? But we are guarded by God’s power through faith. Shall our hope then not be certain and unmovable? The One who holds us tight is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit as a pledge. A little while the test shall endure. The more eager we are, the sooner the goal shall be near us!
Closing Prayer
“My Jesus, I pray You, kindle Your light in my lamp, that its brightness, the Most Holy Place, may be revealed to me, which You, the great High Priest of eternal good, have entered! O may I see You there without ceasing, behold You, rejoice in You, wait for You! Let us love You alone and with our whole heart, desire You alone, think on You alone day and night! Enter our whole heart with Your love. Let our whole being be Your possession; spirit, soul, and body be Your dwelling, so that we know of nothing to love but You, O eternal Love! Yes, according to the measure of grace also let the word be fulfilled in us that not even many waters can extinguish love nor the floods drown it.” Amen.
Yea, were ev’ry tree endowed with speech,
And every leaflet singing,
They never with praise His worth could reach,
Though earth with their praise were ringing.
Who fully could praise the Light of life
Who light to our souls is bringing?
As birds in the morning sing God’s praise,
His fatherly love we cherish,
For giving to us this day of grace,
For life that shall never perish.
His Church He hath kept these many years,
And hungering souls did nourish.
With joy we depart for our fatherland,
Where God our Father is dwelling,
Where ready for us His mansions stand,
Where heaven with praise is swelling;
And there we shall walk in endless light,
With blest ones His praise forth telling.
Grundtvig: O Day full of grace L 434:3.4.7 LHy 379:3.4.6 tr. O. H. Smeby, G. A. T. Rygh, C. Døving;
tune: Den signede Dag (ELH 401); alternate hymn: O Day full of grace ELH 401