Perish, spoil and fade. We meet up with these three terminal words every day here in the land of the living. 

Because everything has an expiration date. Everything is slowly dying.

What I love, What I Hate

Fresh cut flowers on a table make me smile. My daughter-in-law filled me in that I could get several stems of hydrangeas at Trader Joe’s for only a few bucks.  This is a great deal but unfortunately, alas, after a week or less they’ll start to droop, fall apart and then poof! they’ll perish, right before my own eyes. 

I hate that.

My girlfriend Lynda from Tallahassee  came to visit last week. I enjoy my time with her not only because I love her but because she’ll do the dirty work of going through my fridge and cleaning out of all the stuff that got hidden in the back and spoiled.  Like the cheese she found. 

Gross. 

Please tell me I’m not the only one …

Also, have you ever noticed that white shirts and white pants don’t stay white? They fade after being washed a few times. Even with bleach they never have quite the same brilliance. 

Perish 

Spoil 

Fade

See what I mean?

The Word Picture

As I was reading through 1 Peter 1:3-4 last week I stopped short at the beautiful word picture Peter painted for us about our spiritual inheritance.

It says, “Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in his great mercy has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.” Click To Tweet

Did you read that? NEVER perish, spoil or fade. That’s something I like to marinate on because everything (even if ignored like the cheese in the fridge) will expire.

But the good news is we have an inheritance tucked away for us in heaven that will last for all eternity.  And even better, according to Ephesians 1:13b, God has even left a deposit (the Holy Spirit) with us to assure us it’s not going anywhere.

Peter wrote these words of encouragment to the new believers because they were encountering many trials and much suffering. With everything in their world being so uncertain He wanted them to know for certain what they looked forward to was certain and lasting.

Two Things to Consider

First, “Psychology 101” tells us it’s good for our mental health to have an anticipation for some future event. We look forward to the first day of vacation, the last day of work, a golf outing, a tennis match, the completion of a project, time with grandchildren, a dinner date, time with friends. Looking forward gets us through to the what next.

Secondly, for someone to gain an inheritance someone else has to die. Stop and think about that for a minute. God paid for our inheritance with His own Son’s death! Friends, by this one single act we can know how immeasurably precious we are to our Heavenly Father.

Looking forward to our eternal inheritance keeps us looking at this life with a proper perspective. It keeps us persevering through tough times, knowing, we, along with every other earthly creation, are terminal here, but eternal in heaven.

Just as flowers, food and clothing will perish, spoil and fade, our trials, sufferings and hard   times will too. And in the mean time we can look forward to what is promised us.

Looking forward, pressing on and trusting God in every bump and twist in the road. ❤️

Making your Monday less mundane with a word from the Word.