Tuesday, January 27, 2009
1 Peter 1:24-25 "All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away, But the word of the LORD endures forever." Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.
THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER
What a contrast! On the one hand, grass that withers and flowers that fade and die. On the other hand, the Word of the Lord that endures forever and has the power to create new life where there was only death before.
"All flesh is as grass." We learn this as we grow up. We gradually learn the flaws and failings of everything and everyone around us in this world. Our childhood friends fail us. We find that we cannot even depend on their friendship. For a while, we are so close to them. But time moves on, and eventually we cannot even remember their names. We have our sports heroes that we look up to, or perhaps musicians or actors that we think are just great. But along the way we get our eyes opened, and we realize our so-called heroes have feet of clay. They aren't anywhere near as good or as reliable as we thought them to be. We may even find out that they are impenitent sinners on their way to an eternal doom. How could we have ever looked up to them?
All flesh is grass. All flowers fade. Even the members of our own immediate family reveal their weaknesses. Let us call them by a better name: They prove that they are sinners too. Our teachers are far from perfect. Sometimes they are not even kind. What about people in government? We learn we can't depend on their words and promises at all. But surely we can trust our pastors, can't we? But even our pastors fail us from time to time. Maybe they don't seem to understand us. Maybe they give us bad advice. They have problems in their own families. Unkind and unfair words are spoken. All flesh is grass. Flaws and failings. Death and decay. Imperfection everywhere.
Only God's Word endures forever and be trusted forever. God does not lie. His promises of forgiveness in Jesus are trustworthy. Every man may be a liar, but God is true and faithful. 