I don’t think that this is necessarily the point Peter is making, but it is the idea that was brought to mind for me in reading 1 Peter 1 this morning.  The chapter is broken into kind of a ‘here’s what we profess to believe’ and then a ‘here’s what we do about it’, separated by a transition word that we see so often in the New Testament scriptures, “therefore”.  And here is my thought...I have seen a fair number of people who have turned from faith because they struggle with accountability.  What happens is this...they live their life a certain way, then they realize it isn’t congruent with the life of a believer or a Jesus follower, then they go back and challenge the existence or the authenticity of Jesus rather than examining themselves and holding their own feet to the fire.

Peter is writing this chapter with a ‘since we believe this, then we should consider and do that’ point of view.  And I think that is a big part of living life as a Jesus follower.  It is similar to how a successful relationship, I am especially thinking about marriage, works - it works best with a mindset of ‘since I am all in and leaving isn’t an option, then here’s how we ought to move forward’ kind of a mindset.

So that brings me to the simple question that chapter one really got me thinking about today...am I am ‘all in Christian’?  Have I thoroughly examined this Jesus thing to the point where I find it easier to trust in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus rather than to believe the opposite?  I think there are far too many Christian’s who haven’t done this work in their lives, and they are standing on shifting sand in their faith...a little bit of a scientific breakthrough and they feel their faith is challenged.  A strong position of faith is represented by the reaction “Oh, so that’s how God did that” when science brings us a discovery instead of a “oh wow, the Bible doesn’t mention that”.  “The Bible says” isn’t an element of a good defense of our faith.  Is that what you were taught when you were growing up?  Is that ‘all you got’ when it comes to defending your faith?

Why do you believe what you believe?

This morning, I see Peter writing with power to this group BECAUSE of what they believe.  Once we are on the same page, then the challenge he gives can be felt by us too.  We can ‘since-then’ kind of a life.  That’s how we live a life of powerful faith, drawing from our belief rather than pushing back against it.  It’s like Peter said to Jesus when he and the disciples were on the front end of their ministry and Jesus scared away a bunch of on-lookers with the truth about what living in faith would look like, and it was really hard, and Peter said, in John chapter 6, “66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

Let’s be all in with out faith, that we may accept challenge and that we can wrestle with ourselves and each other as to how we should live out our faith without constantly playing this game of having to prove our faith...we typically play that game because we are afraid to be accountable, and let’s not let that be us.