Each fall in my youth, my grandmother got the JCPenney Christmas catalog. With a zealous delight, I spirited it away to ponder its marvelous images.
These days, those images show up on our smartphones daily—the algorithmic distillation of our hopes and dreams, a personalized feed tailored to us. It’s easy to get lost in them. Recently, experts have named this digital phenomenon dreamscrolling. A survey conducted by OnePoll indicates that the average U.S. smartphone user dreamscrolls more than two hours a day! The images that tantalize our hearts invite us to hope, to believe, that if we just had this one thing, it would all be good.
Scripture, in contrast, invites us to relinquish our grip on material things. In 1 Peter 1:3-4, we read, “In [God’s] great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.” Peter contrasts our temporal yearnings with the promise of something that will satisfy: placing our hope in God’s grace. Later he adds, “Set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming” (v. 13).
Truth? I’m a dreamscroller. But I’m asking God to help me gradually learn to lean into His bigger hope, to set my desire fully on Him.
What are you truly seeking when you dreamscroll? What’s captivating your heart?
Dear Father, the world is full of promises that will only leave me empty. But my hope in You will never disappoint. Please help me set my hope on You today.
The apostle Peter wrote to encourage believers in Jesus scattered throughout the Roman provinces (1 Peter 1:1) in what is now Turkey. They faced persecution from three places: the Romans under evil Emperor Nero (ad 37-68), the Jews, and their own families. The Romans persecuted them because they refused to worship the emperor as God and to worship at pagan temples. The believers also didn’t support Roman ideals and rejected the immorality of that culture. Peter reminded them to stay strong (vv. 6-9), for they have a “living hope” (v. 3) and an everlasting “inheritance” (v. 4). Of 1 Peter 1:3-5, theologian Ray Stedman wrote: “Here is the hope of heaven—a place in eternity that is already reserved for [believers in Jesus]. . . . We not only have a living hope for the future and eternity, but we have present power—right now, today!” When we focus on Christ and set our desires on Him, the things of this world lose their appeal.
