A Living Hope

1 Peter 1:3 says our hope is a living hope.  My hope is alive and I base my life on it.  What is interesting is that the living hope is based on the resurrection.  That means it required death to be made alive.  That is why Paul says in 1st Corinthians 15 that without the resurrection, we have no hope.  The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead gave us our living hope.  This verse goes on to say that the hope is tied up in an inheritance which cannot perish, spoil or fade kept in heaven for us.  As I have gotten older, the concept of perishing, spoiling, or fading is much more real.  But what is happening in heaven is a reservation at the Ritz (John 14:1-3).  It is totally and completely pure and unstained.  And it is in the perfect tense so it continues to be made unspoiled.  Now there is work on our part - the faith part.  Verse 5 says it is through faith that I come into this living hope and the inheritance will be revealed "in the last time".  Peter was addressing this to Christians who had suffered lots of trials.  Some of us are experiencing trials, but there is much more than we see.  We see Jesus, a living hope.