Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Have you noticed that the day after a holiday, or any special day, is often a letdown, kind of an empty day. Yesterday was “Ash Wednesday” so I wonder what today will be for you, my friends, no matter where you live. I’m going to help you see some wonderful truth in God’s Word today which I hope will encourage you and give you a great day today, are you ready?
Let’s rejoin the apostle Peter as he’s writing his second letter to Christians in the mid first century. Times were tough for them. Persecution from many sources. Painful persecution which some might describe as horrific, and that’s why Peter wrote his first letter of encouragement. Here in his second letter, Peter moves from encouragement to challenge, calling these early Christians to become all they could be in their Christian faith, and not to shrink back in the face of persecution but rather stand strong and actually impact their cities and towns and even the entire Roman empire!
Now think about that in view of what you are facing wherever you are living today. Peter has rolled out his parchments and picked up his stylus, so let’s listen as he speaks the words as he writes them: “Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:5-8)
Wow! That is a remarkable challenge, isn’t it? Yesterday we looked at the first four attributes Peter challenges us to make every effort to add to our Faith in God: Goodness, Knowledge, Self-Control and Perseverance. If you missed yesterday, may I urge you to go back and listen to it, for it will set up our thoughts for today as Peter continues: “and to perseverance add godliness…” ‘Godliness’! I wonder what that word means to you. To me it means: God honoring. What would your life and mine be like if everything, and I mean everything about us was God honoring?! All our thoughts, our words, our attitudes, our choices, our relationships, our business dealings, even our tone of voice!
I wonder if you’d agree this is the primary reason the Holy Spirit of God comes to live within you and me when we trust fully in Jesus to be our Savior? Paul wrote it like this in his letter to the Roman Christians: “People who live according to their sinful nature have their minds set on what their sinful nature desires; but people who live in harmony with the Holy Spirit have their minds set on what the Holy Spirit desires. The mind governed by the sinful nature is death, but the mind governed by the Holy Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the sinful nature is hostile to God…” (Romans 8:5-9)
‘Godliness’! What would that look like for you and me, my friends? How would Godliness in every aspect of our lives affect our marriages, our parenting, our grandparenting, our employment, our social network, our communication, our social media posts, our reputations? What if 500 million Christians around the world lived full out Godliness every day, how do you think that might impact our world wherever these Godly Christians lived and worked and raised their families? Pause a few seconds and ponder that… and ask yourself what is holding you back from making every effort, as Peter wrote, to live a God honoring life 24/7/365?
Peter continues: “…and to godliness add mutual affection…” Mutual Affection, now what do you think Peter means by that? Do you know anyone who is kind and loving to everyone, even to animals? How do you respond to that person when you are with them or receive a call or text from them or someone simply mentions their name? Does a smile come across your face at the sound of their name? Mutual Affection brings to my mind this powerful challenge Paul wrote to the Christians in Ephesus: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths but only what is helpful for building others up, according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.“ (Eph. 4:29) What would it take for you and me to become people of ‘mutual affection’, so that every person our lives touched was encouraged by every encounter they have with us? Ponder that a moment. Are you courageous enough to ask God to show you what would need to change for this to be true of you?
Peter continues: “…and to mutual affection add love…” As Peter wrote this phrase, I wonder if he laid down his stylus, bowed his head and remembered that day. What day? Oh, I think one of the days that changed Peter’s life. John, Peter’s dear friend, gives us the story in John 21. It had been about 3 weeks since Jesus had risen from the dead. He had appeared a few times to different ones of His closest friends. On this day Peter needed the comfort of his familiar fishing boat, the nets and Lake Galilee. He simply said to his friends, “I’m going fishing“, and John tells us 6 other disciples of Jesus joined him. They all knew this Lake and the peace a night of fishing could bring. They all missed Jesus. They wondered what life was going to be like without Him. But Peter had something else going on down deep inside him. Peter had denied three times he even knew Jesus and he simply couldn’t forgive himself for that. He hated the memory each time it rose up in his mind.
John tells us they fished all night and caught nothing. At first light of dawn, they heard a voice and looking at the shoreline saw a lone figure standing, asking if they’d caught anything. NO! They responded. Then that voice urged them to throw out their nets, right where their boat was. They did, and amazingly their nets filled quickly! It was a miracle, and seeing the fish, John had said to Peter “It is the Lord.” Peter wasted no time. He leaped into the lake and swam to shore. He was desperate for some time with Jesus. Jesus had a fire on that beach, and they all had breakfast together. During breakfast Jesus had three times looked right at Peter asking him the same question in three different ways… “Peter, do you Love Me?” Peter was very careful how he answered Jesus, and in that conversation, Peter experienced the forgiving, affirming, unconditional love of Jesus which set the course for the rest of Peter’s life! That was the love Peter now wrote about, challenging his fellow Christians living in very difficult times under the Roman Caesar Nero’s harsh rule. Have you experienced that ‘agape love’ from God my friends? John wrote that Jesus had said it this way in that upper room that evening before He went to the cross: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13)
So my friends, what difference would it make in our world today if millions of Christians lived that kind of self-sacrificing, unconditional love in our pain-filled world? How many people do you know whose hearts have been shattered by people they trusted or people who should have loved them? What needs to change in our lives, my friends, for you and me to faithfully live this kind of love every day for the rest of our lives?
Once again let’s pause and reflect on Peter’s challenge for living a whole new kind of life and we’ll come back here tomorrow to hear what Peter has to say to us next. For today let’s spend some time asking Jesus to help us see what would need to change for Peter’s words to be true of us? And here’s a song to help us consider that…
Today’s Scripture is 2 Peter 1:5-6.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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