HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

This year has gone by so quickly. In a few hours it will be 2008. As I look forward to the coming new year, I am reminded that the slate for 2008 is clean. This could be the year that Jesus Christ returns to fulfill His promise. As I was studying chapter 3 of the Apostle Peter's second epistle this week, I was convicted about how little emphasis I have given to this wonderful truth. Don't misunderstand. I believe in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, but just like many believers today it is not a subject that I have given a great deal of thought about in 2007. I am ashamed of my neglect. As I studied this passage it became obvious to me that the reality of the Second Coming of Christ and the events that occur in conjunction with it ought to serve as a catalysis for holy and godly living. The Apostle Peter drives that truth home with a probing question. In light of the truth of the Second Coming and the cataclysmic judgment of the ungodly then "What kind of people ought you to be?" The Apostle goes further to declare that "You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming." As those words sturred within my heart this week, I was reminded that if I want my life in 2008 to be charactered as being a "holy and godly" life-- and I do-- then I must be intentional about the way I live daily. Or to use the words of the Apostle Peter in verse 14, "So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless, and at peace with him" (NIV). There is more that I could say about that verse, but for now I will close this post with this reminder. God has made it possible for every believer to live a "holy and godly" life through His divine power. In fact, notice what 2 Peter 1:3,4 declares -- "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. 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" (NIV). The decision is mine. God has made it possible through what He has already done. I must chose to believe God's Word and by faith live in such a way whereby I am cooperating with God's divine power already at work within me.