Be Diligent

DEVOITON 2 PETER BE DILIGENT 2 Peter 3:14-15 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 Because we are indeed looking forward to the Day of the Lord, there are ways we should be living. If, however, we allow ourselves to become distracted by all the things of this world we may miss the mark we are supposed to be aiming for. We are admonished to make every effort, to exert ourselves toward certain qualities. This in itself would imply any distraction; any wavering from making every effort would insure our failure. So then when the Day of the Lord arrives will we be spotless? The only spotlessness we could ever hope to achieve would be in Christ. We need to make every effort to remain in him, to firmly ground ourselves in the gospel message. Can we ever be spotless without Christ? I think not. It would also seem rather foolish to think we could ever be with blame unless we are in Christ. That is the whole reason he died on that cross, so the Father would render us blameless, innocent of all charges for which we are indeed guilty. Christ told our sin, our blame for us and so in him we are indeed blameless. Being in Christ also is the treaty we signed with God. Anyone who has refused to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior is, in fact, at war with God, and they are going to lose. Who in their right mind would ever think they could wage war on God and win? Satan has and we know even as powerful as he is, he is going to lose. So then we should not allow him to entrap us in his snare, but make every effort to stay close to Jesus, to keep ourselves drenched in his blood, clinging to that old rugged cross with all the energy we have. Will we still fail God? Will we still get catch up at times in thoughts, behaviors, reactions that are not acceptable? Unfortunately we will, not that being human is an excuse, for we should not make that excuse, but we are not divine, we are not perfect as Christ was, and that is the whole of why we needed him and that we still need him, and we will always need him. We cannot achieve salvation, nor can we achieve peace with God without the offering of Jesus Christ as the sacrifice for our sin. To this we must be diligent.