I spent about 30 minutes last night making a spreadsheet of my 11-year-old daughter’s extracurricular activities between now and the end of February to see if we there was any way we could fit one more activity in. She’d like to try volleyball, I’m just not sure if we can make it all work together. This seems to happen every year. We get to December and we’re running everywhere. So far this week we’ve been to diving practice, Orffcats, gymnastics, a parent volleyball meeting, a band/chorus concert, and a diving meet – the problem is it’s only TUESDAY night. I’m tired already.
It isn’t inherently wrong that we are involved in a lot of activities. It provides our kids the opportunity to try new things, allows our family to connect with other people in our community, and gives us a chance to build lasting relationships. I wonder, however, if too many of them are keeping us from focusing on what is most important. Will you read and meditate on the words in 2 Peter 3:10-14 with me today?
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. (2 Peter 3:10-14).
The second epistle of Peter was written to believers in Asia Minor to warn them about complacency and heresy. In our world that is filled with things other than the truth of Jesus Christ competing for our attention, it could have easily been written it to us. This section of the letter contains a couple fire and brimstone images about the coming destruction of the earth, but focus in on verses 11 and 14. These verses are about the here and now, how we are living through the ordinary, everyday activities of life.
…what kind of people ought you to be?
…living holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God
…make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him
As I reflect on the past few weeks I wonder, am I making every effort to be the person I ought to be, making holy and godly choices? Am at peace with God? I wonder if the business of life is keeping me from focusing on living the life to which I’m called – spotless, blameless and at peace with him.
And today is all you’ve got now.
And today is all you’ll ever have.
Don’t close your eyes.
This is your life, are you who you want to be?
(Switchfoot, 2003).
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/switchfoot/thisisyourlife.html