Kristi Burchfiel

Hope, Day 12 What’s in a name? Read 1.Peter 4:12-19. Names mean a lot. Parents choose names for their children for lots of reasons. Often they want strong, positive names or maybe a child is named after after family members that were loved and respected. In the Old Testament, names typically were to describe character. In this verse, we see the name Christian was to have meaning and purpose. Other people referred to believers as “Christian.” Typically, a believer would not call himself a Christian. Christian was a derogatory term that was used to mock believers for being like Christ. Here, Peter reminds us that the name Christian is not…

Hope, Day 11 Gifts and service. Read 1 Peter 4:7-11. Most people like to receive gifts. We like it when someone remembers our birthday or a holiday and we receive a present or a gift from someone else. In the same way, we generally prefer to be served. We feel appreciated by others when they provide for us, or do things for us. In some cases, we enjoy going out to eat, so we are served by someone else. We don’t have to cook the food ourselves or cleanup the food. We like being served. However, Peter talks here about the importance of serving others and using our gifts and…

Hope, Day 10 Surprised. Read 1 Peter 4:1-6. How often do you do things that surprise people? I know being around my family most of the time, they know me well enough that I’m mostly predictable. They know what I’m going to say or how I’m going to act or respond in a situation. However, when we are imitating Christ and doing the things that Christ would do, that means we’re going to be different than the rest of the world. The way we act will not be what people expect. We will surprise people. We will make people question why we’re doing or not doing the things we’re doing…

Hope, Day 9 Suffering and Death. Read 1 Peter 3:17-22. We don’t often put the words “suffering” and “death” together with the word “hope.” For most people who are experiencing suffering or have been around death, the word hope does not generally come to mind first. And yet, the very reason that we have hope is because of the suffering and death of Christ. First Peter 3:18 is the gospel message in one verse. Jesus Christ came and suffered as the righteous one of God and he was put to death so that we might live and have hope. If we are going to claim that we understand and have…

Hope, Day 8 Give an answer. Read 1 Peter 3:8-16. We like to be people with answers. If someone has a problem, we want to have the answer. If we are asked a question, we feel obligated to know the answer. Sometimes people will even make up an answer, just to have an answer to share. We can be so quick to give an answer. Yet, when it comes to the reasons we follow Christ, often we gloss over those answers, or hide those answers, or don’t really understand our answers. Peter has been talking about the hope that we have in Christ, and his challenge today is to understand…

Hope, Day 6 Follow the example. Read 1 Peter 2:18-25. Every teacher knows that having an example is pretty much required to help their students understand and grasp a concept. Many teachers have shared countless hours of lectures of concepts and theories and philosophies, but we all know that it doesn’t really click for the students until they see an example. Seeing that example and understanding what something looks like in real life helps us to bridge the gap between theory and application. Peter indicates here that Christ is our example. The people had the law and they thought they had understood what it meant. They thought they knew the…

Hope, Day 5 Freedom. Read 1 Peter 2:11-17. What does it truly mean to be free? Often we think of freedom as a reference to political ideals and policies. We talk about our rights and how we are able to exercise those rights. We get offended if we feel that someone is standing in the way of our rights. But, what does it actually mean to live the Christian life as a free person? Here, Peter is bringing up the question because the early believers were having a lot of arguments about what they were able and not able to do with their “freedom” in Christ. Some people were using…

Hope, Day 4 Grow Up. Read 1 Peter 2:1-10. When first gave birth to my children, it was amazing all the things they didn’t know how to do. Babies are so helpless and fragile. They need assistance for literally everything. We have to help them eat. We change them. Over time, we show them new ideas and concepts, new skills and actions. Slowly, over time, they begin to mature. Most every parent has had moments where they wish their child would mature a little faster. But, in many cases, we start to see growth and maturity. Spiritual life is like that as well. Someone who just gives their life to…

Hope, Day 3 Redeemed. Read 1 Peter 1:17-25. The idea of redeeming something is not a concept that we typically use a lot these days. To redeem something refers to gaining or regaining possession of something in exchange for payment. This is more than just purchasing something. Redeeming adds the idea of restoring the item being redeemed. In these verses, we see Peter discussing our lives and how we have been living them. We have been working through and living our lives with as much goal and purpose as we can. However, because of sin in the world, our lives are a disaster. The people then had been trying to…