A Devotional Look at the Book #497

A Devotional Look at the Book #497

by Jesse Abel

A Devotional Look at the Book #497

A Thought for today by Papa “J”

Acts of love must be proven on the home front; before you take your act to the neighbor; or your gift to church Matthew 5:21-26

A DAY IN THE PAST, THE PRESENT OR THE FUTURE

I think that the next epistle we will be looking at will be the Second Epistle of Peter although I have not confirmed this with the LORD in prayer as yet. I have thought about it a prayed a bit but still I am not sure since this epistle talks explicitly about false teachers; their doom, depravity and their deceptions. Which as I see this as a significant problem that the world will face as the Day of the LORD draws near. However, there is a portion of scripture in Second Peter that challenges my thoughts every time I read it and I thought I might say a word or two about this before we begin. But; beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the LORD one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. For me, I see this statement as one that neutralizes time from eternity. Time simply does not exist in eternity; therefore the apostle can say that God is not slack in His promise that the Day of the LORD is coming. Well, stepping to the side of the framework of this epistles’ main theme and applying this to our prayer and communication with God our Father, we ask God to answer our prayers based on a timeframe and not based on His eternal will. At church today we touched on this very thought that our prayers and communication with God ought to be based on the Will of God, rather than our own timely schedule. For example; Jesus did not come into our world of time to do His will, but the Will of His Father. John 5:24-30. All prayer to the Father is based on what we hear; what we judge worthy of prayer and usually based on what we believe to be righteous. However; we should have the same mindset of Jesus; to do the Will of the Father. We also touched on this same principle in Sunday school; to do the Will of Him who sends us as in being eternally minded with responsibility, rather than being time minded without eternal responsibility. John 6:34-40

2 Peter (Yes; I prayed about this epistle)

2 Peter 1:1 – The apostle Peter awaits martyrdom and as I become older I find myself waiting on the day ahead when this life in time will be over. There are some important points I believe for folks of any age to consider here in this epistle about physical death which can also be found in the Second Epistle of Timothy written by Paul as he too awaits physical martyrdom. Of course, we may not die and glorify God in this way, but we shall all die and that is my point.

We could say that the apostle Peter has a history of not fearing death. As you remember the arrest of Peter by Herod who intended to put Peter to death after the Passover as he did to James the brother of John earlier (Acts 12:1-19). You remember how he had to be awakened by the angel who was going to set him free that evening. We should have this same mind as it is found in Jesus Christ also. Hebrews 12:1-2. So what is the motivation for dying? It is the same as living; we have a heavenly hope; and there will be better resurrection. Hebrews 11:13-40.

All of which is based on the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, a faith of the same value as that of Jesus Christ. Now this is important and I know in time I have not understood this as I ought. Faith in God is not something that we muster up in the flesh and offer it to God as a sacrifice (Cain’s offering). The apostle Peter explains clearly that faith is precious (as of the same value as the faith of Jesus that pleases God the Father). Protect your gift of faith; you’ll be glad you did!