![[Photo of withered flowers]](https://www.deankwilson.com/Blog_images/withered_flowers.jpg)
| All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever. |
| —1 Peter 1:24-25 |
It has become quite a cliche for some jilted lovers to send wilted, dead flowers as a parting gift to the one who has broken off his or her relationship with the one who has become jilted. To me, it seems like too nasty a dirty trick. But, the number of times the popular culture has encorporated this action into the storyline of television programs and movies indicates the nature of how this practice has taken hold.
I wonder if you or I would like to be thought of as a bunch of withered flowers? And yet, that is exactly the image that the Apostle Peter uses in the verse at the beginning of this blog post.
In the particular passage of Scripture in which these verses appear, Peter urges those receiving his letter to understand that God expects Christians to move toward holiness. In theological terms, we call this “sanctification.”
After God has revealed to someone that He has chosen that one to belong to Him and provided salvation through the death, resurrection, and ascension of His Son, Jesus, God intends for His chosen ones to move away from the godlessness of this sinful world toward the world to come where the main characteristic will be holiness. This is not something that we believers can do by ourselves. Rather, it is a lifelong process that is fueled by the Holy Spirit, who dwells within all humans who have acknowledged the gift that God has given them.
When Peter describes humans as grass that withers and dies and flowers that fall, he contrasts this temporal condition with the Word of God that stands forever. Peter is urging his readers to put aside all those things that are tied to the life and death cycle of this world and to cling instead to the Word of God that lasts forever.
As we begin another new day, we will do well if we immerse ourselves in God’s written Word. The more we read, meditate, and learn about the God who has chosen us to belong to Himself, the more we will be able to choose to follow Him in obedience along the pathway of sanctification—that is, the pathway towards holiness.
