Get ready to start a journey…a journey through the pages of the Bible and the pages of your life.
It is early in the morning as you sit down with pen and paper. Composing on a computer won’t do. You want these words to flow straight from your heart, personalized with your distinct handwriting. The end of your life is near, and you write knowing that you are expressing your last thoughts. What would you write in that letter? Here is what Peter writes in his final letter.
How can you know for sure that you are a true believer? How can you have certainty about your eternal home? These are key questions, and the answers focus on your spiritual growth. Here’s what Peter says in today’s passage.
I officiated a memorial service for Lois, a believer who followed hard after Jesus. One word that described her entire life was “service.” Not long before she died, her daughter-in-law took several of Lois’ great-grandchildren to visit her in a care facility. They became worried when she was not in her room and began searching for her. Finally, they found Lois at the end of a hall in her wheelchair, reading to a person who could not see.
Becoming a Christian is a free gift of grace. There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation. It is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. We were dead in our sins, and God breathed spiritual life into us. Salvation is of the Lord. But growing as a believer involves the power of the Holy Spirit in us and our personal commitment, desire, and ongoing discipline to grow.
As I write this, God has placed me in a challenging and stretching time. I have done a good bit of reflecting on “his precious and very great promises.” In fact, I have written several of God’s promises on 3 x 5 cards to review them often. There is no middle ground to a promise.