In this passage on Christian identity Peter addresses three crucial questions all of us must face. How do you know who you are? Where do you get your validation? Where do you find your purpose?

The natural posture of the hopeful person is love, when hope is tethered to Jesus.

Christian holiness flows out of Christian hope, not the other way around. How should we respond to the hope God has given us? Peter gives us three examples.

Peter says it's possible to rejoice and to grieve at the same time. But only if you have a living hope. Do you?

No one can live without hope. That's why Peter begins his letter with this profile of Christian hope--a secure hope because it begins and ends with God.

Peter wrote this letter to help new Christians understand what it means to follow Jesus when identifying with him sets you apart from the culture where you live.

This book of sorrow ends with a prayer. It's a prayer that wonderfully models the steps of lament we've been following all summer. And it's a prayer perfectly answered in Jesus.

This poem answers the call of chapter one for a witness to the human tragedy of Jerusalem’s fall. It offers a crucial model for us. Where and how should we bear witness to social problems in our time and place?

This poem answers the call of chapter one for a witness to the human tragedy of Jerusalem's fall. It offers a crucial model for us. Where and how should we bear witness to social problems in our time and place?

This third poem, a small but brilliant shaft of light in the darkness of this book, helps us learn how to fight for hope in the midst of sorrow.