"And beside this...add..."
2 Peter 1:5
- Make the bed, . . . start the coffee . . . make breakfast . . . pack lunches. . .
- remind George to change his shirt from yesterday. . . remind George to change his socks,
- Find his backpack. Check if he has a clean pair of pants. Find his socks. Where’s his
- homework? And that’s just the normal list for George . . . There are three other “bodies” to
- check on before they’re out the door.
- How are you doing with the everyday task list you have to shoulder in your life?
Peter gave us a great list to help us do a self-check of our own lives in the context of our relationship with Jesus. We can “do the right things” in our daily routines, , . . . good things. .
But God always puts a higher Value on what is going on in our hearts than what we are “doing.”
We can have the neatest lawn on the block . . . the most beautiful flowers bordering the picket fence . . . the best wax job on the car . . . the whitest sheets on the clothes line (do people still use clotheslines?)
Peter’s list is not about things we DO. The list is about what comes out in the way we live and the way we treat people throughout our daily lives.
Read through the list Peter gives us about what should come out of our lives as followers of Jesus. The list may have familiar words, but does your life reflect those words in practical ways? That piece is directly tied to our relationship with Jesus. He lived out those qualities perfectly during His time on earth. We can look to His examples as He interacted with people, and with His Father.
Doing all the right things can be done by anyone with that determination. But God always seems to prioritize what comes out of our lives and hearts . . . attitudes: loving interactions . . .forgiveness… kindness … patience….long-suffering….etc. And in the midst of our day-to-day,
those attitudes and actions show up in the unguarded moments of life. It’s a daily piece of our human nature.
Peter surely struggled with his own human nature. . . just as we do. And he gives us a little check-list for our Journey through that Battle. . . our human nature vs. God’s Nature, which He works within us as we learn to follow Him each day.
2 Peter 1:5 – 10 is his checklist. Why not use his checklist! I’m sure he wouldn’t mind!
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