Like A Kid In A Candy Store

"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. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For 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. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

10Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1:3-11

I was reading these verses in 2 Peter today, and I was struck by several different things. There were a couple of verses in particular that jumped out at me. I'm going to start with verse 4 today, because that one spoke right to my core, particularly that last part

"Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."

One of the issues that I struggle with, and have always struggled with is controlling my spending. I am absolutely terrible at overspending the money that we have, and not saving for a rainy day. I always find myself with the best intentions, and then I lose my focus. I remember last year at this time struggling on the unemployment that Andy was receiving, and looking forward to his return to work. And once he returned to work, we found ourselves in the position of being eager to spend, spend, spend. And not only did we spend all we had, we spent beyond, using credit to ensure our comfort. And as always, we look back and all we can think about is how stupid that was and how it is completely our fault that we are back in this position of owing a small fortune and having our credit score shrinking instead of improving.

This year, of course I have a renewed sense of responsibility. Once Andy's earning what he should again, I have plans to be responsible. To tithe, save, pay bills, and then take care of some basic needs. Yet in the back of my mind I worry about the temptation to go overboard and dig us into a deeper hole. I get so angry at myself for repeating the same awful behavior over and over even though I know better. But look at verse 4. It says that through God's promises, I don't have to repeat that behavior. I don't have to be tempted to spend, and even better, I don't have to worry about being tempted. Because God promised to help me escape my evil desires. It doesn't even say there that he'll help me to resist temptation. It says, right there in my Bible that I can escape the evil desires altogether. I'm going to hold God to that promise. I am praying in earnest for that promise to come to fruition.

I also wanted to talk about the beginning of verse 10 this morning.

"Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager"

When someone becomes saved for the first time they have an eagerness about them. They are so excited to be a part of God's Family, and they feel his presence in their lives that they hadn't felt before. They're exuberant, sharing God's love with everyone they come across. Yet after awhile, that exuberance fades. Christianity becomes complacent and not as exciting. Why? I even see this within the church. We get so involved in routine. We find a way to do something that seems to work well, so we stick with it and forget that God is constantly evolving. Sunday mornings become more about going through the motions and moving seamlessly from one item to the next. It's almost boring. We need to remember that eagerness, that sense of wonder that happens when someone meets Christ for the first time, and our every day should be that way. We should be thrilled to jump out of bed in the morning, because God made a new day for us to enjoy. Every Sunday should be full of joy because we have an opportunity to come together as a family and worship God together. There are people in other countries who don't have that freedom or opportunity. And we need to remember that and be thankful that we have such and opportunity.