Good Monday to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
When you travel, especially to see family or friends whom you have not seen in a long while, what is your anticipation of the ‘welcome’ you will receive? I live more than 1000 miles away from my Father who turned 96 years old yesterday! However, I’m delighted to say my Dad is here in my home for a few weeks and it’s very special to have him here with my wife and me. Dad is nearly blind and at 96 not as spry as he once was, but his mind is sharp and we’re having those wonderful conversations we both had anticipated.
Yesterday we concluded our time with the apostle Peter as he had just written this statement: “If you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:10,11) At age 96 my Dad tells me he thinks often, several times a day, about what welcome awaits him in heaven. I wonder if you can imagine how comforting it is for me, and all of Dad’s extended family, to hear him speak of heaven with the confidence and certainty he has that be it today or next month or next year or 5 more years, whenever the moment comes, when my Dad breathes his final breath here on earth, he will instantly be transported by God Himself to heaven and into the presence of God.
You already know the question I’m going to ask, don’t you? Do you have that same confidence and have you spoken often enough about the welcome you anticipate in heaven, that your children and entire extended family take great comfort in your certainty?
Here is perhaps an even more important reality for us to consider… my father’s certainty serves as a catalyst for all of us, his descendants, to ask ourselves if we are as confident of heaven as he is! So, I and all the others in our family ask ourselves: does my life give my family full confidence that I am certain a wonderful welcome in heaven awaits me, and does my life stimulate them to look closely at their lives, asking themselves what welcome awaits them after their earthly death? Remember Paul wrote about it to Timothy like this: “The time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord Jesus Himself, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me but to all who long for His appearing.” (2 Tim. 4:7,8) That is how my Dad feels, I’m confident of that, and I hope my wife, my daughter and my five grand girls all have that very same assurance about me and my anticipation of my departure. How about you my friends, all of you, scattered all around the world?
Now as the scroll Peter was writing was taken across the Roman empire and read to clusters of Christians, you can well imagine each of them asked themselves the questions I’ve been asking you today. Perhaps if the reader of Peter’s letter paused here, people would say, ‘please read that again. Peter’s words are so powerful, so challenging, I need to hear it again.’ So here it is again: “If you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Naturally this powerful statement begs the question: “what things was Peter referring to that I must do so I do not stumble and so I can anticipate a rich welcome in heaven?” Well, of course, those were the things Peter had written about in the immediately preceding verses which we looked at yesterday and Friday. If you missed those, I urge you to go back and listen to them again and read those verses, my friends.
For today, let’s keep going forward with Peter. He next writes: “So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you have.” Oh, my friends, what truth do you know well, and in which you are firmly established, that gives you hope for living each day in our wicked world, but also the certainty of the rich welcome you’ll receive in heaven, in the presence of Jesus when you arrive there?What, did I hear some of you say that you DO NOT have this hope, and you DO NOT have certainty of a rich welcome in heaven? Well, that means you have not immersed your mind and heart in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and all God’s truth about life and sin and Jesus, and God’s willingness to forgive your sin and adopt you into a vibrant relationship with Him!
That, my friends, is the purpose of this daily “Walking with Jesus”. My hope is that as you journey with us “you will never stumble, and you will” gain the deep confidence that yes, you will “receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” But that, my friends, requires, as Peter wrote that: “you know them and are firmly established in the truth that you have.“ As Peter wrote. So honestly now, what is your appetite for God’s Truth and how passionately are you seeking to fulfill that appetite with the rich food of God’s Word daily?
What has the potential each day to distract you from your daily, consecrated time with God? Have you noticed how easily busyness or other attractions can squelch your appetite for God and His truth? What are you doing to protect that God given spiritual appetite and fulfill that appetite with a wonderful diet that is nourishing you well, and giving you that confidence that Peter wrote about?
Finally, let’s close today by looking briefly at the next statement Peter wrote, we’ll dig into it tomorrow. For today, let’s just whet our appetites a bit. Peter writes: “I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.” (2 Peter 1:13-15) Oh my that’s powerful!
Can you already see several things that will be exciting to unwrap together tomorrow? Ok, I’ll be waiting right here for you! For today, reflect again on your future. Is a rich welcome in heaven awaiting you because you are confident you are a citizen of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ?
If so, you’ll love this song that celebrates that great truth. I remember the first time I heard this song and Charity Gayle singing it! It took only a few seconds and I was on my feet celebrating Jesus. Are you ready? Here’s the music video link…
Today’s Scripture is 2 Peter 1:10-15.
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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