1 Peter 1:24-25
What I learned about God as a small child in Vacation Bible
School has sustained my faith all these years. It happened to me in this way, a few ladies who put aside the
pressing issues of home to give a week of their year to tell little children
about God. It was a simple
message, but a message that has never left me, “In the beginning God.” My mother was one of those ladies, and
what is so amazing is that she had many obstacles that should have kept her
from doing so; three small children, a house to manage, no transportation and a
2 ½ mile walk with toddlers, and yet my mother believed that she and her
children should invest in service to others, and she and the other ladies were
laying a foundation for faith to grow.
It might be of importance to some of you, that in my case, if you were
watching, it seemed for 27 years I had not retained the message of those
faithful ladies, but God had begun a work in a small boy’s heart in Vacation
Bible School, and God is faithful to finish what He has set in motion.
Often, I ask myself questions; like OK, how does what you
have written above tie into 1 Peter 1:24, 25? In the verses preceding verse 24, we are called to be holy,
and we are reminded that God is all knowing. He never says Oops, and He bought you out of sins control
with the blood of His Son. In
verse 24, we are reminded of the fragileness of life, Peter compares it to
grass, but then he goes farther to state that life on planet earth is more like
the very brief flower that comes on the grass. This is what he said about that; “The
grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
(1 Peter 1:24b & 25a)
Many years have passed, and my mother and most of those
ladies who opened my mind to “In the beginning God,” are like those flowers
Peter refers to, no longer part of this world, but very much alive. My flower is still blooming and for
many years people with titles to their names have questioned the authority and accuracy
of the book we refer to as the Bible.
But I remember from Vacation Bible School that God is “big” and He spoke
everything into being, I also was told that He was not like me, that He was
pure and could not lie, and that is why what Jesus said in Matthew 5:18 has a
mighty hold on my mind and heart. “I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear,
not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means
disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” That makes it easy for me to
believe the Creator over the created.
The son of Amoz who prophesied during the reign of four kings has said
this; “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the
word of God will stand forever.” (Isaiah 40:8) Peter and Isaiah lived hundreds of years
apart, but both spoke of the fading life on planet earth, and the eternalness
of God’s word.
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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