Sunday, September 9, 2012

September 10, 2012

"Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life 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, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;" I Peter 1:1-5
 
I am blessed with a wonderful mother. She does many things well but one thing she does best is cook! Since she raised seven of us she learned to cook for big groups. After shopping for the food and bringing it home and cooking the meal and setting the table she call us when it was ready, "Come and get it!"
 
Everything had been done by her for us but she was not about to bring the meal to us, that is the one thing we had to do for ourselves. "Come and get it", she would call and she never had to call me twice!
 
That is like Peter in these verses. When he says, "Make every effort" he is in effect saying, "Come and get it!"
 
He takes great care and delight in detailing the marvelous things God has prepared for us through His Son, Christ Jesus. According to Peter, God has given us "very great and precious promises" and He has given us "everything we need for a godly life". After doing so and explaining it, in verse 5 it is as though He says, "Come and get it!"
 
Just like my mother, He will pay the price and do all the preparation to make a great spiritual feast available and He invites you to the table BUT He won't force feed you. It is up to you to come and get it! That is the effort you have to make!
 
Even now, as I write these words, I remember the many times I answered the call of "Come and get it"! Gladly I would make the effort to hurry to the table to enjoy the delicious dishes she had lovingly prepared for us! In view of all she had done for us responding to her call and coming to the table wasn't much of an effort - but it WAS an effort! The greater effort was usually pushing away from the table!
 
In the same way, we should welcome the call to enjoy all that God has provided for us - "everything we need" - and with great joy "make every effort" to "come and get it"!