2 Peter 1

God has given us everything we need to live the kind of life He expects us to live. Through the knowledge of Christ. It's easy to say we understand His goodness and grace. But honestly, I don't always think we do. I think if we truly had comprehension of God's goodness and grace, our response might look much different than what I see in the Church. It says here that we should see godly character in INCREASING MEASURE on our lives.

I, Kendra, can pull off some of these things for certain periods of time, but I need to see them increasing a lot more than I do now. I mean, when my daughter threw a fit today and knocked a hole in her hand-painted door by slamming it against the door stop, I pretty much lost my witness. I know people like to throw out the whole temple-tables thing but we're talking about a nickel-sized hole in the back of a plywood door, not people blaspheming God's dwelling place on earth and taking advantage of His worshipers. There was no excuse for my reaction.

It seems like we love to jump to the phrase "once saved, always saved" (which isn't in the Bible of course) instead of focusing on making "our calling and election sure." We have lots of knowledge but this chapter calls that "ineffective and unproductive" if it isn't causing ongoing life change in our lives. I'm going to talk about a well-known parable tomorrow and point out exactly what God thinks about those who are "ineffective and unproductive" which is quite different from what we popularly like to call Christians who are "baby" after years have passed or "carnal" or "casual" or luke-warm." Peter, who knew his days on earth were numbered at this point, seemed much less reliant on some incantational repeat-after-me prayer and much more passionate about bearing fruit.