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Devotions

Useless?

by TerryLema

One last thought out of Peter’s Second letter. It is summed up in a word rendered “useless” in my Bible translation.

 “For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” [2 Peter 1:8 HCSB]

We share “faith of equal privilege” and have everything we need for life and godliness in the knowledge of Christ Jesus. We also have God’s precious promises that He, by His grace, has provided a way for us to be partakers of the divine nature – we are born again the moment we surrender our lives to Him.

Because of those things, we now work out what God has given us into our daily lives so that we can keep “from being useless or unfruitful.”

That word useless is “argos” and means to be inactive, idle, lazy, thoughtless, or unprofitable. I must admit this study in 2 Peter Chapter 1 all began because of the word “useless” appearing in that verse above in one of my daily emails.

As I age and my body becomes frail, the one thing I fear is that I might become “useless or unfruitful” to my beloved Savior and LORD. I know that I cannot do what I once did. I also know that I cannot give up and do nothing.

God has given so much to me. He has flooded my life with His goodness and grace. I feel His love every day. I weep when I hear Him call me “child.” Because of all He has given me, I so desire to give to others. I want – no need – to be useful to my LORD and Savior. Let it be, dear LORD. Amen.

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Every Effort

by TerryLema

God has given us everything we need for life and godliness. He has also given us precious promises that we can now live, not according to our old sinful nature, but according to His divine nature. That is the message of the opening chapter of Peter’s Second Letter.

Now that God has given us everything, we need to do something with it.  “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.” [2 Peter 1:5-7 HCSB].

Remember that storehouse I wrote about a couple days ago. It is filled to the brim with everything that we need to live a godly life. It is all there, available, waiting for us to enter and retrieve anything we need. So, Peter reminds us to “make every effort to supplement your faith,” that “faith of equal privilege,” with …

What do you need to be more like Christ Jesus? Goodness? Knowledge? Self-Control? Endurance? Godliness? Brotherly affection? Love?

I would love to be able to tell you that the moment you surrender your life to Christ you immediately and miraculously become exactly like Him. That doesn’t happen. It usually takes a bit of effort on our part. We are instantly born again, instantly made new, instantly indwelt by the Spirit of God. Now we must take that and work it out in our lives.

That is going to require a lot of visits to the storehouse!

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Precious Promises

by TerryLema

I am spending a few days in Peter’s Second Letter. I am in verses 3-8, titled in my Bible, “Growth in Faith.”

Yesterday I wrote about verse 3, which reminds us that God’s divine power has “given us everything required for life and godliness.”

Today it is verse 4 because, as if it were possible, there is even more! “By these He has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desires.” [2 Peter 1:4 HCSB]

Not only do we have everything required for life and godliness, but we have “very great and precious promises,” so that we may “share in the divine nature.”

Our nature is what we are. It is our character, our individual personalities. We are born with Adam’s nature, a fallen sinful nature that has a natural proclivity towards pleasing ourselves. In other words, we live “My Way!” and are proud of it.

When we surrender to Christ Jesus, we undergo a radical spiritual transformation. We are new creations in Christ Jesus, born again in His divine nature. No longer do we have to answer to that old sinful nature, now we can live to please God, desire His desires.

We are children of God; His Holy Spirit indwells us. We now have the power to live “His Way!”

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We Lack Nothing!

by TerryLema

I love the opening chapter of Peter’s Second Letter. It was written to those “who have obtained a faith of equal privilege with ours [the apostles], through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” [vs 1 HCSB]

That’s me! That’s you! Those original disciples of Christ Jesus passed to us “a faith of equal privilege.” What a marvelous thought.

Then Peter immediately turns to writing about growing in the knowledge of that faith in God and Jesus our LORD. What he says in verses 3 through 8 captivates my thinking and thrills my soul. I know I’ve written about these things before, but as I sit reading these verses today, here I go again.

“His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.” [2 Peter 1:3 HCSB]

Read verse three again. “His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness ….”

EVERYTHING! We lack nothing.

What if you were given a storehouse that had everything you would ever need for the rest of your life? In that storehouse were food, clothing, every essential. There were vouchers for homes, cars, and careers. You could find shelves labeled “Love, Relationships, Hugs, and Friendship,” and others labeled “Kindness, Compassion, Comfort, Peace, Joy.” Everything was yours, and you never had to pay even a penny.

That, beloved, is what we have – everything required for life and godliness – at our fingertips because we share a faith of equal privilege in Christ Jesus our LORD and Savior. Glory!

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May Be?

by TerryLema

The other day I was reading my online news source and found an article titled, “Auto-immune Diseases That May Be Fatal.” What a thrill to open the article and find one of the auto-immune diseases I deal with listed there!  Nothing like starting your day thinking about what might kill you! But, then, just being alive is pretty much fatal. We start to die the moment we are born. (Uplifting thoughts this morning!)

Several times in the Gospels, people came to Jesus and asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Jesus’ response was always the same. Come to Him, believe on Him and the One who sent Him, and they would have eternal life. “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish—ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand.” [John 10:28 HCSB]

“This is eternal life: that they may know You [Father God], the only true God, and the One You have sent—Jesus Christ.” [John 17:3 HCSB]

This eternal life is a gift of grace from God our Father. “…the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our LORD.” “So that having been justified by His grace, we may become heirs with the hope of eternal life.” [Romans 6:23, Titus 3:7 HCSB]

Now that is much more uplifting than the article I read. Yes, death is an enemy, but it is an enemy that was conquered by Christ Jesus. While our bodies may be subject to “Auto-Immune Diseases that May Be fatal,” we do not have to be.

We can possess eternal life in Christ by God’s marvelous gift of grace that will one day take us into His presence where we will dwell forevermore. Amen!

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Under the Stars

by TerryLema

I was thinking about the LORD’s thoughts and ways this morning, marveling in His love and kindness to me – despite knowing me so well. “O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.” [Ps 139:1-3NKJV]

God has searched me, David wrote. I always picture David lying on the ground looking up at the stars and thinking about God thinking about him. God had searched David, knew his thoughts and path and all his ways.

God has searched me. He knows my thoughts. That both comforts me and sorrows me. I know some of the things I think. I see my arrogance flare, or my pride well up. I know my opinions and sometimes they are not very pretty. Still, He welcomes me.

God comprehends my path. It’s often crooked or rocky. It often deviates from the way God would have me walk. I lose my way at times and wonder how I got where I am. Then my precious Savior is there, guiding me back through the leading of His Spirit within me.

God is acquainted with my ways. My ways … my ways, often, they are not His ways. They are ways prompted by my anxiety or my greed or my lack of understanding. They are ways that are ingrained in me since childhood, my reactions, and responses to life. Still, He loves me.

I may not be lying under the stars this morning thinking about God thinking about me – but I am so thankful He knows me, just as I am.

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Life Changing Truth

by TerryLema

I know I should not be, but I am still amazed when those who do not know Christ, who do not live for Him, or desire to serve Him will say to me, “Jesus would” or “Jesus wouldn’t.” They often tell me that Jesus fellowshipped with sinners (yes, He did) and that Jesus would accept people just as they are (yes, He would). But how they mean it, and how it truly is, doesn’t quite mesh.

They forget that while Jesus ate and fellowshipped with sinners and allowed all kinds of people to come to Him – His purpose was not to leave them the way He found them (in sin) but to bring life-changing truth into their lives.

The Gospels tell us that Jesus called Matthew to be His disciple. Matthew was a hated tax collector. Tax collectors were considered one of the most grievous of sinners. Matthew, in response to Jesus’ call hosted a dinner for others to meet the Lord. Matthew invited his circle of friends, which are described as “sinners and tax collectors.” When the religious leaders saw this, they rebuked Jesus. “Why do you eat with sinners and tax collectors,” they asked.

His response is telling. “When Jesus heard this, He told them, ‘Those who are well don’t need a doctor, but the sick do need one. I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.’” [Mark 2:17 HCSB]

Why do we call a doctor? Because we are sick. What do we expect the doctor to do? Leave us in our sickness?  No, we expect the doctor to heal us.

Jesus compared Himself to a doctor—a spiritual doctor. Why does Jesus fellowship with sinners? Because they are sinners—spiritually sick. What does He want to do? Leave them in their sickness? No, He intends for them to be made well—spiritually well.

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Before We Finish …

by TerryLema

I was reading in Genesis this past week. When Abraham was old, he sent the chief servant in his household to go back to his relatives and find a wife for his son, Isaac.  (Genesis 24)

When the servant arrived at his destination, he stopped at the well outside of town. This was where the women came to draw water in the evening.  He prayed, “O LORD, God of my master Abraham ….” Then he spoke the prayer to God about how he would know the right choice for Isaac.  The Scripture records, “Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder.”

We know from the rest of the story Rebekah became Isaac’s wife. Before the servant finished praying, the answer to his prayer walked into his presence.

Daniel had a similar experience. “While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the LORD my God for his holy hill- while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me….” [Dan 9:20-21]

When we pray, do we expect God to respond? Or is our prayer simply telling God what we think He doesn’t know and reminding Him of what we think He should do to fix the problem.

How shocked would we be if the answer to the prayer appeared before we even finished praying! 

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Holy, Holy, Holy

by TerryLema

We are all familiar with Isaiah’s reaction to the presence of the LORD in Chapter 6. While the Seraphim announced that God is “Holy, Holy, Holy,” Isaiah recognized his own lack of holiness, “Woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips.” [vs 3, 5 HCSB]

Over and over and over in Scripture we are told that God is holy and that we are to be “holy” because He is holy. We are also told that God hates sin. “For You are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil cannot dwell with You.” [Psalm 5:4 HCSB]

God hates sin because it is the very opposite of His Holy nature. His Holiness is the core of His nature. God also hates sin because He knows that it separates us from Him. He knows what sin can and does do. I think, however, there are times when Christians are cavalier about sin. We may not fully comprehend the depth of God’s hatred of it.

We must never miscalculate the power and the seriousness of sin. We must never underestimate what sin will do when it gets a foothold in our life. It will leave us wretched. And as it progresses, destruction follows in its wake.

“Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” [James 1:15 HCSB]

There is no such thing as a “small” or “insignificant” sin. Sin never remains static. It grows and will eventually ruin. That is why it is imperative we take care of sin when it is first conceived.

Thankfully, God has made the way (Christ Jesus’ cross and resurrection) for us to do that.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” [1 John 1:9 HCSB]

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Whatever You Ask

by TerryLema

As Jesus was preparing His disciples in John 15 for His separation from them by calling them His friends – not servants – He reminded them of something very special. 

 

“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” [John 15:16 HCSB]

 

Our friendship with the Father through Christ Jesus, His Son, was not one of our choosing. We are God’s friends because He chose us to be so. He also chose us for a purpose, to go out into this world and bear fruit that remains.

 

I often hear people quote the last part of verse 16, “whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.”

 

When they quote that verse, it is not always in the context in which it was spoken. It is sometimes quoted in a very selfish way … that God will give or do whatever they want if they ask for it by using “Jesus’ Name.”  They quote it as if God is some dispensing machine in the heavens – put in the “Jesus’ Name” token and take out whatever you want.

 

The context, however, is different. The context is that God chose us to be His friends that we might go into this world and produce fruit that lasts.

 

Fruit that lasts is fruit that is eternal. It is produced through sacrifice and good works. It is born in the lives of others, not something we selfishly claim for our own greedy needs. It is not that new car or more money or a bigger house, it is patience with the unlovely, compassion for the hurting, love for the lost. 

 

That is fruit that remains … it remains all the way into and throughout eternity. That is the fruit that is always ours when we ask and seek it in “Jesus’ Name.”

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