December 31

For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was proclaimed to you. — 1 Pet 1:24-25 BSB

All flesh, and everything connected with it, is like grass. It may look green and flourishing for a time, but under the scythe of the mower or the heat of the sun, it quickly withers and fades. Such is all human flesh, without exception, from the greatest to the least. Some may grow thicker and taller than others, making a brighter show for a while, but when death comes, it cuts down both the rich and the poor, laying them all in the same grave.

In early spring, you may have seen the grass in flower, with its tiny, almost unnoticed "anthers" trembling in the breeze. This is "the flower of the grass," as much a flower as the tulip or the rose, though much less conspicuous. As the grass withers, so does its flower fall away. It never had much permanence or strength, hanging by a thread and easily blown away by the slightest wind. Such is the pride and glory of human flesh.

But is there nothing that endures amid all that withers and falls away? Yes, the word of the Lord endures forever. "And this is the word that was preached to you." The same gospel that the Apostles preached is still preached to us today. If we have received it into a believing heart, we have received that enduring word of the Lord. Though our flesh is as fragile as grass and our glory as fleeting as the flower of grass, we have an enduring substance in the gospel of God's grace. And when our earthly bodies decay, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.