Different Living Styles || 1 Peter 1:24-25 || Weekend Wind-Down #26

Welcome to the twenty-sixth week of “Weekend Wind-Down.” This series is where we take the verse of the day, look at the face value interpretation, check the background and context of the verse, do a deeper dive on the focus scripture, and figure out what we can walk away with. 

Today’s verse is 1 Peter 1:24-25, which says this: 

24 As the Scripture says, “People are like grass; their beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades.

25 But the word of the Lord remains forever.

Background

Peter wrote this letter to the persecuted Christians for believing in Jesus. He wanted to comfort them with the hope of eternal life and the challenge to continue living holy lives. Peter believed that those who suffer for being Christians become partners with Christ in his suffering. We need to remember that Christ is our hope and our example for us and our suffering. 

Deep Dive

Peter reminds his audience that every tangible thing in life will eventually disappear. The only things that will stay are God’s will, work, and word. Our focus must be to quit focusing on the temporary and start focusing on the permanent, which is the word of God and our eternal life. 

The original verse that Peter is quoting is Isaiah 40:6-8, which says: 

6 A voice said, “Shout!” I asked, “What should I shout?” “Shout that people are like the grass. Their beauty fades as quickly as the flowers in the field. 

7 The grass withers and the flowers fade beneath the breath of the Lord. And so it is with people. 

8 The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.” 

People get compared to grass and flowers that wither away. We’re temporary, but God’s word is eternal. As we grow older, our bodies begin to decline. As we disappear, we often find the enduring quality of God’s Word more clearly. 

We need to count on God for eternal life and not on our strength. God’s word sticks around forever, where we’ll find hope, comfort, and eternal security. 

James extends this metaphor in James 1:10-11, which says: 

10 And those who are rich should boast that God humbled them. They will fade away like a little flower in the field. 

11 The hot sun rises and the grass withers; the little flower droops and falls, and its beauty fades away. In the same way, the rich will fade away with all their achievements.

To sum up, what you have in your heart, not your bank account, matters to God and endures forever. 

What should we take away from this?

Take-Home Point

We’ll explore the verse Peter is quoting later, but let’s look at what Peter shares with his audience here. The critical thing is what we have tangibly on Earth will fade away when we transition to the eternal. The only thing that will stick around is God’s will, work, and word. The will of God stays because God’s desire (a literal translation) for you and I will produce results in our communities that should stick around even after we pass. The work of God stays because his people will be here forever. The goal is to bring the Kingdom of Heaven down to Earth, and his chosen people will continue to work on this as generations come and go. The word of God will stick because it’s an ever-evolving understanding to the generations. We are constantly learning new things about the Bible through the contexts of the authors, times, and situations. 

The Isaiah passage says it in more detail. The comparison to the grass and wildflowers is familiar to you and me. Jesus compares us to the wildflowers in the conversation about what can do for us. Isaiah compares us to them in the concept that we will die when our time is up. As we fade physically, we often start to see the life-long quality of the Word of God. Our eternal life doesn’t come from our strength; it comes from God’s word. That’s the only constant that we’ll have. In that constant, we’ll find hope, comfort, and security. Because it comes from a constant source, we can know and have faith that they will never leave or run out. 

The James passage goes deeper into what Isaiah 40:7 says. My study Bible asks this question: If wealth, power, and status mean nothing to God, why do we attribute so much importance to them and so much honor to those who possess them? It’s a convicting question. It makes me think, but here’s my answer based on my experience. We focus on them because we fall victim to the art of comparison. I see friends on social media who have their career jobs, their group of friends, and their new families, and it’s great. I’m happy for them, kind of. I’m jealous. I’m frustrated. I’m living at home, with a small part-time job, with very few friends who live their own lives.

When measuring the “success” of your life based on the commonalities of how others around you are, you can become so focused on them that you forget about God altogether. The other thing, and I’ve talked about this before, is that comparison is tangible. Wealth is tangible, whether it’s money in your wallet, wealth on your screen, or items in your home. Power is tangible when it comes to the title of your job. These items are tangible, but the stats that God prefers (where your heart posture is) are often intangible. We can’t see them; if we can’t see them, we don’t focus on them. Wealth and power are often shared with us more often than anything else today. God’s love, grace, and mercy are not shared as often unless you become enveloped in church or faith-filled communities. To summarize, we focus on the worldly tangibles instead of the eternal intangibles. What will you focus on after this? 

Thank you for joining me for this Weekend Wind-Down as we explored the difference between godly living and worldly living based on teachings from Peter, Isaiah, and James. Stay tuned for the next reflection. Let me close out with prayer. 

Father God, we thank you for the eternal life you give to us. We thank you that while the things on Earth fade away and may cause grief, the things of you will last forever. Please help us to recognize your eternal gifts. Please help us to change our focus to the eternal Kingdom of Heaven instead of the greedy Kingdom of today’s society. We love you, Lord. It’s in your name, we pray. Amen.