Wednesday after Quasimodogeniti
Posted on April 14, 2021 by under
Scripture: 1 Peter 1:22-25 (NKJV)
1:22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, 23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, 24 because
“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,
25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.”
Devotion
Being purified by obeying the Truth means nothing else than believing the Gospel. The Gospel is, by its very nature, a promise. Promises call for faith (see Apology, Art. IV (II). 50). Obedience to the Gospel is not a matter of works, but of faith—faith worked in the heart by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit purifies our hearts by faith, through which our sins are forgiven and not imputed (Acts 15:9). By giving us this faith, the Spirit revives us, regenerates us, makes us born again. As new life springs up after the winter frost, so new life begins in us. That planting which comes alive in our hearts is the seed of God’s holy Word—a seed that will not die in the heat of summer, nor the cold of winter, but which abides forever. May we always hold fast to the faithful preaching of this Word of Life!
As that seed grows in us, it must bear fruit. “The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth” (Eph. 5:9). Chiefly among these fruits is love: love for God our Savior, and love for our Christian brothers and sisters. We must prove ourselves alive by these fruits. Show forth how His Word has taken root in you. Show your neighbor how God’s love is reflected in your behavior. Show to yourself that you are truly born again from the dead.
Prayer: Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we who have celebrated the solemnities of the Lord’s resurrection may, by the help of Thy grace, bring forth the fruits thereof in our life and conversation; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
