Lesson 5: Call to holiness – His plan

Read 1 Peter 1:1-25 - https://www.bible.com/bible/59/1pe.1
20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you
21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,
23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
24 for – All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.

We are called to holiness because God has a plan. When we were students in a classroom, the teacher had a plan to teach us a required subject. He or she called us to attention, to set us apart from all that was going on in the world around us, so we would be able to focus on learning this required information. We had to choose to be obedient to the teacher if we wished to learn.


In these verses for today, God is calling our attention to His plan as well. His plan was made long before He ever created the earth, the universe, or us – Verse 20. Then God began carrying out His plan. He sent Jesus to die as the penalty-payment for our sin. He raised Jesus from the dead, and gave Him great glory – Verse 21. He gave us the grain of faith which could grow into hope in Himself – Verse 21.

Do you see the words of our previous three lessons in verses 21-22? Faith (lesson 3), purity (lesson 2), and obedience (lesson 4). But we see now the purpose for these three things – love for each other. What is love without these things? Love without faith is soon tired and gone. Love without purity is selfish. Love without obedience soon turns to anger.

Love God’s way is only possible when we are born again and given eternal life – His gift to the new spirit He creates in us as He makes us new creations in Himself (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). His way makes love possible forever, and the food to make love grow is the Bible – His Word.

But one of the most amazing things about God’s love is found in the last two verses of this chapter. We might expect God’s greatest words on love to be surprising or wonderful or magnificent. But what does He talk about here? He shows us the grass and the flowers which appear and then are gone in a day. What is God trying to tell us?

Two things are important: First, what happens here in this life is just temporary – only God’s way is permanent and eternal. Second, God asks us to see the temporary as part of His plan – even a little flower does not escape His notice. God’s love in us is lived in each moment, but it is eternal in its endurance and power.

*In what small circumstance in your life have you seen God’s love for you?