1 Peter 1:24-25 (NLT)
24 As the Scriptures say, “People are like grass; their
beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades. 25
But the word of the Lord remains forever.” And that word is the Good News that
was preached to you.
The apostle having given an account of the excellency of
the renewed spiritual man as born again, not of corruptible but incorruptible
seed, he now sets before us the vanity of the natural man, taking him with all
his ornaments and advantages about him: For all flesh is as grass, and all the
glory of man as the flower of grass; and nothing can make him a solid
substantial being, but the being born again of the incorruptible seed, the word
of God, which will transform him into a most excellent creature, whose glory
will not fade like a flower, but shine like an angel; and this word is daily
set before you in the preaching of the gospel. [Matthew Henry Commentary]
In 2001, just as his first child was about to be born,
actor Mark Ruffalo (known for his portrayal of Bruce Banner/The Hulk in the
movie The Avengers) discovered he had a brain tumor. It turned out to be
benign, but half of his face was paralyzed for a long, uncertain year. The
paralysis went away in time, but his left ear's hearing vanished forever.
"You start making deals," said Ruffalo,
"OK, whoever, whatever—take my hearing, but don't take me away from my
kid. That's a heavy moment to happen at three-year-old. But it was a blessing
in disguise. I got a lesson in fallibility and mortality, you know, 10 years,
15 years ahead of my peers." [Brian Hiatt, "The Last Angry Man,"
Rolling Stone (5-7-15)]
Like the grass and the flowers of the field our bodies
will eventually wither and fade away. But the Lord has given us a gift of
eternal life, the Good News that is free to anyone who desires it. When we
receive the Good News of the gospel of Jesus Christ we are given hope, a life
worth living, and eternity with God.
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