Wednesday Word: For When the Daily Grind Grinds on Your Soul

I received the following scripture reference in a dream this past week and want to share this word to encourage you:

You have been chosen in keeping with what God the Father had planned. That happened through the Spirit’s work to make you pure and holy. God chose you so that you might obey Jesus Christ. God wanted you to be in a covenant relationship with Him. He established this relationship by the blood of Christ.

May more and more grace and peace be given to you.

1 Peter 1:2 (NIrV)

I usually use the NIV translation of the Bible, but when I went to look up this verse on the Bible app on my phone, the translation had switched from my usual NIV to the New International Readers Version. This is not intended to be a discourse on which Bible translation is “best;” rather, I have found that different translations can speak something new at unexpected times. In my case, a technological glitch actually worked for my good.

It’s easy for life to go from stability to drudgery when you’re not paying attention. The daily grind can go from manageable to grinding your soul in the blink of an eye. I wasn’t quite there when I received this verse, but realized I was growing close to that point.

A reminder that we as Christians are chosen and wanted by God is never not a timely reminder. It’s something that we know, but time and life can dull that deeper meaning. Sometimes something like a different Bible translation can be used to remind us of a wondrous truth.

Here’s what I learned from this verse:

“You have been chosen in keeping with what God the Father had planned.”

• Friends, God chose us! He loves us so much that He doesn’t want to be separated from us forever. Ever since the Garden of Eden when sin entered the world, God had set a plan in motion for redemption for the world at the right time. In His great love, He could not stand by and do nothing. Our salvation was part of His plan all along.
• Ephesians 2:4-5 (NIV): “But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved.”

“That happened through the Spirit’s work to make you pure and holy.”

• There is nothing we can do on our own to be good enough for God; it is the Holy Spirit who sanctifies and works within us to make us more like Jesus.
• Romans 8:15-16 (NIV): “The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”

“God chose you so that you might obey Jesus Christ.”

• Jesus is our high priest and our sacrificial lamb, atoning for our sins and making the way for us to spend eternity with God in heaven. He is our example.
• Isaiah 53:5-6 (NIV): “But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds, we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
• 1 Peter 2:21 (NIV): “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps.”

“God wanted you to be in a covenant relationship with Him.”

• Our relationship with God is not a casual thing. It is a covenant, not unlike the covenants God made with Abraham and Noah. It has meaning and is not meant to be treated lightly. God desires a deep, meaningful relationship with us. That cannot be achieved by doing the bare minimum–which is an easy thing to fall into when the daily grind takes over your life.
• Hebrews 9:15 (NIV): “For this reason, Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance–now that He has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.”

“He established this relationship by the blood of Christ.”

• Only the pure blood of Jesus as fully man and fully God would be enough to truly buy our pardon. By His blood and His sacrifice, we are covered and purified, able to receive the Holy Spirit and walk in true freedom.
• 1 John 1:7 (NIV): “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.”

We need these reminders often. Our hearts know this, but sometimes these wonderful truths can be buried in a landslide of daily life. We are strangers and pilgrims in this world, not unlike those to whom Peter addressed his letters. We face trials, we have struggles, we get lost along the way. We need to return often to the source, the Living Water at the Well, the True Vine, and remember the truth and let it continually saturate us and free us from life’s entanglements.

When the daily grind grinds on your soul, return to these truths and allow them to cover you once again.

Blessings,

~Lynne