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Luke 12:35-38

21 Oct

35 “Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 as though you were waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast. Then you will be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks. 37 The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat! 38 He may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn. But whenever he comes, he will reward the servants who are ready.

Luke 12:35-38

Dear God, what does it look like to be ready? Am I ready? How do I get myself ready?

The first word that comes to mind is perseverance. I once heard Gary Thomas say during a Sacred Marriage presentation that one of the keys to anything in the Christian life is perseverance. He said that he never hears sermons on it, but it’s critical.

So what does perseverance look like in a life well-lived? First, starting with the spiritual aspect of my life, it means disciplining myself to find this time with you. It also means doing the other things I determined were the least I need to do each day/week to live a life that is complete in you.

  • Do my prayer journals each day
  • Give at least 10% of our income
  • Listen to outside Bible teaching at least once a week
  • Spend quality time with my wife every day
  • Stay sexually pure
  • Volunteer and serve others outside of my job
  • Stay in touch weekly with my male friends
  • Exercise at least four times a week
  • Serve my wife

Coming up with that list almost 14 months ago has been a great thing for me. It has really helped me to be accountable to you on the things I must persevere through in order to be “ready” for your return or when I meet you through death. The only way I will die at peace is not through accomplishing things, but through having persevered in doing at least these minimum things plus the other joys you have put into my life that add on to them like teaching/writing, being part of a church community, listening to Christian music/podcasts, etc.

Father, I have some work to do this morning that combines a “have to” (volunteering) and a “get to” (teaching). I need to finish preparing my lesson for the Christian Men’s Life Skills class tonight. Be with me as I finish this process. Plant seeds through me. Prepare the hearts of the men to hear your word, take it, and let it grow in their hearts. Give me one word that might bless someone there tonight. And do what you need to do in me as well. And I pray for my co-teachers for tonight, my coworkers today, and how I interact with all of them. Be powerful. Be loving. Be merciful. In me. To me. Through me.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 21, 2025 in Luke

 

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Peter & John — 2 Peter 1:3-11

25 Jan

2 Peter 1:3-11 NIV
[3] 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. [4] 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. [5] For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; [6] and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; [7] and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. [8] For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. [9] But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. [10] Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, [11] and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Dear God, the progressive list that Peter gives in verses 5-7 seems like something I should have memorized by now, kind of like the fruits of the Spirit from Galatians 5. Let me see if I can break it down into a more digestible format.

  1. Faith: We start with our faith in you.
  2. Faith + Goodness: I don’t know that Peter thought this ordering was inflexible, but I’m a little surprised Goodness is the first batter up after Faith. I might have thought Self-Discipline or something like that. But he chose Goodness.
  3. Goodness + Knowledge: If you’re going to have Faith and Goodness, but then you don’t start educating yourself about God through scripture and prayer then you will be left empty. A baby Christian who never grows.
  4. Knowledge + Self Control: So then if you are going to have Faith, Goodness, and Knowledge, you will need to be able to control yourself as well. That means in denying yourself of your vices, your carnal nature such as temper and self-righteousness. It also means self-discipline to pursue Knowledge.
  5. Self Control + Perseverance: Perseverance is what it becomes about. When I was first a Christian at the age of nine, I was like a lot of nine-year-olds in my lack of understanding of time and fatigue. All nine-year-olds think they can just sprint a mile and not give up. When I was nine, I had Faith, and I added Goodness, but then I didn’t add the other things and my faith failed over and over again. It wasn’t until I added Knowledge, Self Control, and Perseverance to the equation that my life changed.
  6. Perseverance + Godliness: Godliness is added over time only after Perseverance has exposed me to you long enough. I am more godly than I was yesterday and I will hopefully more godly tomorrow than I am today.
  7. Godliness + Mutual Affection: Ah, community. Community is the bonfire that keeps our coal going. I was talking with a friend this morning about how you built us for community. Within that community, we need to have empathetic affection for the others around us.
  8. Mutual Affection + Love: And if we are going to have that Mutual Affection, it is nothing if we don’t have your Love. Again, I don’t know that this list is necessarily in order. I would think that Love might have come earlier in the list, but this is Peter’s list, not mine.

Father, help me to be complete in all of these things and then help me to be a light that guides others to this same completeness. Help me to not miss any of these components. Probably the hardest one is perseverance. Help me to press on. Help me finish this race well. Help me to be your man in every area where you have me serving.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on January 25, 2019 in 2 Peter, Peter and John

 

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