by Faye Schmidt

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… by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls (1 Peter 2:24b,25).

Read 1 Peter 2:11–25

If you are wounded, you expect that your wound will heal – your wound. But our text tells us that while Jesus is the wounded one, we are the ones who are healed. We are the beneficiaries of his sufferings: the beatings, mockery, nails, spear and lash … all those wounds, so that we may be healed.

While Jesus’ wounds may have healed, the evidence of them did not go away. We read in John 20:27: ‘Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”’

This healing, which is God’s gift to us, is in the form of freedom from the consequences of our sins and the power that sin holds over us.

As we repent of our sins in the knowledge of God’s forgiveness, we ‘return to the shepherd and overseer of our souls’ (verse 25). We are now equipped through the Holy Spirit to strive to live a life of righteousness – that is, being right with God and living a life worthy of the love and grace given to us through Jesus’ suffering.

While Jesus suffered for us and took our sins to the depths with him, we live in the knowledge of the resurrection that is our hope that as we share in Jesus’ death, we also share in his resurrection and eternal life with him.

Heavenly Father, grant me again your forgiveness. Give me faith to lay hold of your holiness and so rejoice in the righteousness of Christ my Saviour that, resting on his merits rather than my own, I may more and more become like him for his name’s sake. Amen.

Faye Schmidt continues her diaconal calling through governance, having served on the Vic–Tas District Church Board, the General Church Board and currently as chair of her congregation, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Adelaide. Having lived and worked in many locations within Australia and overseas, Faye has a heart for the stranger and the newcomer and for being open to new ideas, learning from others and responding to needs.

by Faye Schmidt

Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.

See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame (1 Peter 2:6b).

Read 1 Peter 2:1–10

A definition of ‘cornerstone’ is ‘the chief foundation on which something is constructed or developed’.

When a building is constructed, a stone is laid at the intersection of two walls. This stone is measured and aligned to the required drawings and forms the base from which the rest of the building is measured. Everything aligns with the cornerstone. It requires the whole building to have been designed to enable the stone to be placed.

For this reason, many buildings incorporate a special stone that has an inscription and is regarded as the ‘foundation’ stone – the stone on which the building has been founded.

Jesus is the cornerstone/foundation of our faith, placed in our world by God to fulfil his plan for our salvation. It is from Jesus that all God’s mercy and blessings are derived.

If it were up to us, we might have made the key feature of a building the roof or a special window feature. Or maybe the main door. Something striking, visible, vibrant and evident.

But it is the same Jesus who was born in a stable who is the cornerstone, located at the bottom of a building, often unmarked and inconspicuous. It is a reminder to us that God’s ways are not our ways.

Being at the base of a building and being the stone on which all others depend means that much trust is placed in this stone, for the accuracy and stability of the building.

How much trust do you have in this cornerstone of your faith? Are you dependent on him for your mercy and salvation? Are you aligning your life with his and following his example?

Thank you for welcoming me into the house you have built with Jesus as the cornerstone, gifting me with your love and mercy. May I be a witness to your mercy and praise and glorify you in my life. Amen.

Faye Schmidt continues her diaconal calling through governance, having served on the Vic–Tas District Church Board, the General Church Board and currently as chair of her congregation, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Adelaide. Having lived and worked in many locations within Australia and overseas, Faye has a heart for the stranger and the newcomer and for being open to new ideas, learning from others and responding to needs.

Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.

Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming (1 Peter 1:13).

Read 1 Peter 1:13–25

Where will we set our hope today, in this life, on this side of eternity? That’s what Peter is addressing in verse 13.

What does it mean to set or fix our hope on something? It’s a question of where we will turn to find meaning in our lives, find relief from suffering and fill up the emptiness that every soul experiences.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning together as it suffers together the pains of labour, and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what one already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience (Romans 8:22–25).

With what will we occupy our hearts? In what will we invest our thoughts, energy and focus? If all that Peter has told us so far in this letter is true – that we, as Christians, will be resurrected as Christ was, that God guards us and our inheritance with him in eternity and that our salvation is secure – there is only one logical place to set our hope. That is in God’s grace for us at the future coming of Jesus, the moment in which all the longings of our hearts will be fully satisfied.

We must take control of where our thoughts go and what our minds dwell on. If we do not fully engage in intentional hope-setting, we will be easily distracted by the false hope of satisfaction that the world continually offers us.

Heavenly Father, along with faith and love, hope is a gift you give us through the Holy Spirit. I pray that my hope is always in you and that I am not distracted from this gift that promises me eternal life through the resurrection of Jesus, my Saviour. Amen.

Faye Schmidt continues her diaconal calling through governance, having served on the Vic–Tas District Church Board, the General Church Board and currently as chair of her congregation, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Adelaide. Having lived and worked in many locations within Australia and overseas, Faye has a heart for the stranger and the newcomer and for being open to new ideas, learning from others and responding to needs.