Something Lasts Forever

 

It is as dead-of-winter as it gets around my neck of the woods.  Just a week ago we waved off a few frigid days of snow and wind, and already we’re staring down another chilly system threatening to descend. 

 

Bare brittle branches abound. 

Leftover leaves lying lifeless around.

Bulbs buried beneath soggy soil. 

Birds buzzing about, briskly they toil.

 

But this too shall end. 

 

That’s what seasons do.  They come and they go, each one characterized by signs and symbols; each one revealed in beauty and glory unfurled; each one lounging around, overstaying; each one never lasting. 

 

Seasons die out. 

 

For some folks it’s hard to let go.  For other folks it’s good riddance. 

 

Changing seasons have become the

unchanging reminder that, as they say,

nothing lasts forever.  

 

“Love one another deeply, from the heart,” Peter says.  (1 Peter 1:22b)

 

Well, that’s easy enough, right?  Not. 

 

The hardest thing we’ll ever do is love other people.  

 

Why is that so hard, do you suppose? 

 

Because, like seasons, people change…  Smooth skin wrinkles up.  Hair turns gray.  Clothes go out of style.  Good moods go south.  Good times go sideways.  Friends leave us, alone.  Evil lurks in souls.  Pride is pride. 

 

People are dynamic beings; fickle down to our deepest driving center, and fickle is hard to land our love on.  It’s wearying.  Our love is limited.  We tire quickly.  We give up. 

 

For some folks it’s hard to let go.  For other folks it’s good riddance. 

 

Nothing lasts forever, they say…

 

…but I’m not settled there.  The Apostle Peter has me re-thinking that earthy claim. 

 

I’m in 1 Peter 1:17-25.  Peter calls the love he’s talking about “sincere love.”  It is love that is honest and true and heartened.  It is love that holds no hope of gains or returns.  It is the real thing; stamped genuine.  (Turn over to 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 for more descriptors here.)  And when Peter says it comes “…from the heart,” he has in view the deepest driving center of our being…where only our Maker can truly touch.

 

Oh, there is love that aligns with the worldly mantra that nothing lasts forever. 

 

We can conjure up

and muster up

and muscle up love

to spread around town

and wear ourselves down

and hope for a crown. 

 

But greater still, there is love – sincere love – that is born from something unchanging; something that lasts forever.  There is love born from the salvation of our souls.

 

Back in the text Peter seems to be drawing parallel lines that he hopes we will follow to their end, mainly verses 18 & 19 and verse 23.  You might want to find these verses and give them a look-see.  Here are the parallels though…

 

Vs. 18-19	Vs. 23
Redeemed	Born Again
Not with perishable things (silver & gold)	Not of perishable seed (grass & flowers)
But with the precious blood of Christ (imperishable thing)	But through the living and enduring word of God (imperishable thing)

 

The salvation of our souls – our redemption or born-again-ness – comes from that which is unchanging and lasting; namely, the blood of God’s eternal Word, Jesus Christ. 

 

Salvation does not come from things that will fade away, like this wintery season and all seasons beyond; not from the fleeting and finite things of the world, be they riches or grasses or my self-motivated love. 

 

Salvation by grace, through faith – of greater worth than gold, mind you, from back in verse 7 – which God has offered to humankind, springs forth from eternal realities. 

 

Which means…? 

 

Which means…in a world where nothing

lasts forever, there is an other-worldly

reality – the salvation of our souls – that

will last forever! 

 

Now, that earlier verse I quoted, verse 22b; did you notice that the parallel lines Peter has drawn run right through it?  Sandwiched between this other-worldly reality of salvation that is unchanging and lasting is the active imperative to love one another deeply, from the heart.

 

Maybe you’re with me in this already, but that gives me enormous hope that even in withering seasons when my will to love and my want for love wanes, sometimes longer than I can withstand, I may trust that…

(a)    my salvation is secure

in Jesus Christ and

(b)    there is love born from my

salvation – the love of

Jesus Christ in me – that

is lasting. 

 

Even these earthly bodies…did you notice in the passage text, if you read far enough: 

 

“…we are like grass,

        and all our glory is like the flowers of the field;

the grass withers and the flowers fall,

        but the Word of God stands forever.”

 

Daffodils and Tulips and Cherry tree blossoms, then azaleas and peonies; they all have their short season.  But within mere weeks or less, their pedals fail and fall and wither and go back to the earth.  Seasons, like these bodies we reside in, like the love we imagine is our own to spread around, they do not last forever.  But the truth of Jesus Christ and His salvation does not change over the course of our years, and the love of Jesus Christ born from that salvation lasts forever.