Everything will come to fruition on the day that Jesus returns. The posture of all saints is a posture of waiting. That day is the believer’s hope. As Paul tells the Colossians, “When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:4).

What has kept you going lately when you feel like you are running on empty? What hope have you been walking in when things seem dark or futile? What have you been most looking forward to? Has it been hope in a long weekend? Hope in some hours of silence at the end of the day, some entertainment, a long vacation, a job promotion, a presidential candidate, a spouse, a child, a grandchild? Perhaps it has been the day of retirement or a different day on the calendar.

None of these things are bad in and of themselves, but all of them are insufficient sources for the grace we need to live faithfully in a world plagued with temptations to sin and suffering. The Apostle Peter wants our hearts and eyes resolutely fixed on the appearance of Christ: “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” (1 Peter 1:13). He wants us to stake our lives on the return of Jesus. At the most essential level, that is the mindset with which Peter wants us stepping into each day. Namely, “If Jesus does not return, my actions today will be pointless, my suffering will be meaningless, my holiness nonsense; but thanks be to God, as sure as Jesus did rise from the grave, He will return and I will enter into His glory.”

Let us take a look at Peter’s exhortation piece by piece for our own instruction, so that we, too, might set our eyes on that grace that will soon be brought to us.

First, he says, “Set your hope…”This phrase suggests that we have an active role to play. We are to set our hope in that grace that is to come. We are the ones doing the setting. The responsibility belongs to us. We will not accidentally attain this. This is an invitation to obedient deliberateness.

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