Scripture:     Read 1 Peter 1:21-22

21Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.

22You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.
Observation:

Jesus and the Gospel restores and makes it possible for our trust in God to grow.

Responding to Jesus and the Gospel is a form of obedience that cleanses us from sin; sin impacts our relationships.  Sin complicates life such that its difficult to love.  But now in Christ we can love sincerely and deeply.

Application:

Two things I know that need to keep happening in my life.  1.  To keep trusting God.  Jesus is making this possible.  He has shown how trust worthy God is.  And 2.  To keep letting Jesus cleanse me of sin so that my love capacities grow.

Without these two works of God’s grace I will use people rather than love them.  And I will get stuck in patterns of unbelief, not trusting God with my life, being independent from Him and having a low tolerance for the stressors of life, easily adopting lust, gluttony, anger, impatience, prejudice, and self-righteousness as the go-to positions of my heart.

Prayer:     Heavenly Father thank you so much for giving me the grace to trust you.  Forgive me, cleanse me for the unbelief that lurks in my heart.  That unbelief is so destructive!  Cleanse me and give me the grace to love sincerely.  Give me the courage to take off the masks that keep me from loving and being loved.  Cause the love of our church to grow so that we can “love each other deeply with all our hearts.”  AMEN.