Effective & Productive Godly Lives

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ~ 2 Peter 1:3

I take this verse as saying if we have knowledge of (or in other words, a relationship with) Jesus, then we will have all we need for our lives and all we need to live godly lives.

So then the question becomes how do we have a relationship with Him? I would answer that with another question. How do you cultivate any relationship? You must spend time with the person, put aside your selfish desires and ambitions in order to listen to them and get to know them. Take the time and make the effort to learn and understand their mind and heart.

So, my next question is are we spending time regularly with Jesus? AND is that time spent talking about us or putting ourselves aside in order to truly know His mind and heart?

2 Peter 1 goes on to say we should make every effort to add to our lives the following things:

• faith
• goodness
• knowledge
• self-control
• perseverance
• godliness
• brotherly kindness
• 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. ~ 2 Peter 1:8

I think this is one of those circles that build upon themselves. Notice it says to possess these in increasing measure. That means we can always use more, we should always seek more.

Spending time getting to know our Savior will increase these qualities in our lives as we know Him better and give Him more control of our lives. Having these qualities increases our ability to know Him better - it is a never ending circle.

As sinful humans we are not able to possess these qualities without our Savior so the best way to get this cycle going is to spend regular time in the Word, in prayer and fasting, in worship in order to see God's heart. As we begin to understand and follow His heart, these qualities will grow in us and we will become effective and productive members of God's Kingdom.

My Heart Aches

I am part of an online group of mom's with various forums in which I interact. A mom on one of the forum's today had the following in her signature:

• The bad news is God does not exist
• The good news is you don't need him

Wow! I read this, did a double take, reread it and then as it sunk in felt like the breath had been knocked out of me!

In the past this might have made me really angry but not anymore. Instead I was filled with sorrow. My heart hurt for this person and her family. Not only does she believe this, she feels strongly enough to put it in her signature. The second part hurts the most. I can't imagine living without my Savior and I hurt to think of how much it hurts Jesus to have one of His creation claim this. Imagine one of your children who you love dearly and would give your life for saying this about you!

This world is so lost and so very blind and clueless to the fact. Just because they think they don't need Him, doesn't make it true.

My heart and prayers go out to those who are still blinded by the prince of this world. I pray the Holy Spirit opens their eyes and hearts to the Lord and their desparate need of Him. We all desparately need Him!

My "Right" to Retaliate

1 Peter 2:23
When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.

The above verse written by Peter is talking of Jesus, who was without sin, totally innocent but when he was falsely accused and then crucified, never once retaliated in anyway. Even though he could have called down all the angels of heaven to save him, he did not.

My "innocence" is but ashes next to him, but I often believe I have the right to retaliate against those who have wronged me. Even the wrongs that others have perpetrated against me are but mere inconveniences compared to what Jesus suffered.

According to the world though I do have a right to retaliate. If someone speaks badly of me or takes the wrong tone with me, I have the right in the eyes of the world to complain and point out what they have done. The worse the offense, the more "rights" I have.

But as a follower of Him, I am bound not by the rules of this world. I live in the Kingdom of Heaven, ruled by the mighty Creator of ALL creation, not in the kingdom of the world which is darkness. So if I don't live for this world, why do I choose my "rights" based on this world?