a brand new life

mine 

So I've been reading in 1 Peter a little bit recently, and I came across the translation of the Bible called the Message.

I'm still not sure how I feel about it yet since it kinda reminds me of a children's translation. 

However, it does help me understand those confusing parts of the Bible a lot more. 

1 Peter 1:3-7 says, "What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole. I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory." 

Seriously, how encouraging is this? First of all, it is a reminder of how grateful we should be to have the mercy of God in our lives. That is a reason to live a joy filled life, as a response for everything Christ has given us. Even though the message of the gospel has been repeated over and over again, we quickly forget the meaning of the words.
Secondly, we've been given a brand new life because of Christ...and that brand new life starts now. Not when we are grown up and adults, but right now as teenagers and young adults. We are put where we are for a purpose, and we can use our lives right now to further the kingdom of God.
That brand new life in Christ isn't always going to be easy, and I think that's why Peter included the part about how we will have to put up with aggravations. He tells us we can look forward to eternity with him where everything will be perfect, if you have put your faith and trust in him as your Savior. You can have certainty for what happens after death. Sin is a part of our nature, and we will go through trials, but that is what makes our faith stronger.
Suffering is what makes our faith strong and genuine. In the end, it's not our works that are accounted for, it is our faith in Jesus Christ. Our faith in Him is the only thing that saves us.
I'm so thankful for his grace and mercy, and for his love in allowing us to have hope for a future with Him.



p.s. i'm desperately in need of a new design, any tips on where to get quick, free designs? I don't want to spend money on one until I have more readers. This design just doesn't seem unique to me, or fit my blog the way I want it to, and I didn't save a copy of the old design :/