"May God bless you with his special favor and wonderful peace as you come to know Jesus, our God and Lord, better and better. 3. As we know Jesus better, his divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life. He has called us to receive his own glory and goodness! 4. And by that same mighty power, he has given us all of his rich and wonderful promises. He has promised that you will escape the decadence all around you caused by evil desires and that you will share in his divine nature. 5. So make every effort to apply the benefits of these promises to your life. Then your faith will produce a life of moral excellence. A life of moral excellence leads to knowing God better. 6. Knowing God leads to self-control. Self-control leads to patient endurance, and patient endurance leads to godliness. 7. Godliness leads to love for other Christians, and finally you will grow to have genuine love for everyone. 8. The more you grow like this, the more you will become productive and useful in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9. But those who fail to develop these virtues are blind or, at least, very shortsighted. They have already forgotten that God has cleansed them from their old life of sin. 10. So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Doing this, you will never stumble or fall away."
This is a great text from 2 Peter. I continued on the journey in Peter's letters and found a great reminder for today. One of things that is very difficult to remember is that this 'what would Jesus do?" challenge isn't about asking it one time but an ongoing question as we make little decisions every day. Sometimes it is very hard and sometimes it is rather easy. In both cases and everything in between our goal is to RESPOND to the grace that has been given to us in such a way to show we are truly His.
A number of years ago I was part of a 7 Habits of Highly Effective People weekend. I know it sounds like a "cultish" thing and honestly it seemed like that to me when I went. It is for new leaders in the community I was living in and we had a director come from the Covey Institute. Stephen Covey wrote the book years ago and it has been a very popular business tool if you haven't read it. I mention this book because the one piece that I liked most of all is the idea of this compass to direct us. Covey uses it as he talks about course corrections along the way in your life. He discusses how planes have to constantly adjust their heading as they fly from point A to point B. This is not a big surprise as the flight encounters different weather conditions including a variety of wind patterns. All of us are walking day to day in Christ and we are encountering all kinds of things that are causing us to make corrections. My question is in this "how hard are you working at looking to the real compass to direct?" It's hard work to dig into the Scripture. The Word of God convicts when you study it and though it is always for God's glory and our good it is easier sometimes to hide from it rather than to hide IT in our hearts.
Work hard today with your true compass. It will serve you very well! Much love and prayers. LGLO, Pastor Peter
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