Going All-In

“…set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” 1 Peter 1:13b

What does that look like, to set your hope fully on future grace?  It looks like a desperate gambler that has placed every bit of livelihood that the Roulette wheel lands on black.  It looks like the poker player sitting with pocket Aces convinced that he will have the “nut hand”. 

If it doesn’t land on black you are homeless.  If some other guy gets lucky on the flop and you find yourself up the river with only a pair of Aces and the other guy is sitting there with a Full House you’ve not only lost the farm you’ve lost your shirt, shoes, and family dog. 

Keeping a few chips aside just in case you are wrong isn’t going all in. It’s not setting your hope fully on something. It’s not really having absolute confidence in your hand. To set your hope fully is to throw in all your chips and maybe your watch to boot. You aren’t leaving anything back.

So when Peter tells us here to “set your hope fully on” he is saying don’t leave an ounce of hope to anything else. Go all in. Don’t shore up your bets. Don’t keep a few chips into the stock market, or a few chips into another religion, or a few chips into your good works, or a few chips into having a nice house or a nice family, or a few chips into money, or a few chips into entertainment, or a few chips into relationships. Don’t shore up your bets. Go all in. Set every ounce of your hope onto Jesus Christ and what is awaiting you in Him. 

May we hope in nothing else.