Peter opens his first letter with a doxology that has steadied exiles for twenty centuries: in his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.

Kept in heaven for you, he adds, while you are shielded by God's power. Your treasure and your person are both under guard. Read today breathing easier.

Peter wrote to exiles, scattered strangers, the same word Psalm 119 uses, and anchored their identity not in where they stood but in what was kept for them: an inheritance beyond perishing, spoiling, or fading, with God's power standing guard over both the treasure and the traveler.

Ezekiel's restored temple ran on a parallel principle: holiness carefully kept, the sacred distinguished from the common, because what God treasures He protects with specifications. You are being kept with that same care. Grief may visit for a little while, as Peter says, but the vault does not open for it. Rejoice accordingly.