Friday, March 9, 2012

Mindful of the words

2Pe 3:1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:
2Pe 3:2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour

The words of the holy prophets- the words of the apostles of the LORD and SAVIOR.

We are given these words for a reason. We are to be MINDFUL of the words spoken to us by those called of God to give them to us. Much is made over who wrote what, who used a scribe and who wrote their own words but ultimately we have to ask ourselves if we have faith in God. If we have faith in God then we have to have faith that He has given to us His holy word, all that we need to be mindful of.

Some followers of Christ have a cherished passage of the Bible, a snippet they've managed to obtain that they cling to. Some have only had the opportunity to hear- not to read the word of God for themselves. And yet God has given them ALL they need in what He offers to them and what they cherish of His word.

All too often we are given the book we call the Bible, a collection of the works of the Prophets and the Apostles- and it sits unopened, not cherished at all. Is it a complete collection of all the prophets and everything the Apostles ever wrote? No. But what we have is what God gives to us and we should cherish what we've been allowed to have. We should be MINDFUL of the words we are privileged to have, the words spoken by prophets, by apostles, my holy men of God who wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

2Pe 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

2Pe 3:3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts

Scoffers.
Def-
From G1702; a derider, that is, (by implication) a false teacher: - mocker, scoffer.

An unbeliever, right? A scoffer is one who doesn't believe. If I scoff at your beliefs, I'm not believing them, right?

Unbelievers.

Walking after their own lusts.

We have so many lusts in our lives. You mention the word lust and people tend to instantly think things of a sexual nature, but lusts do not pertain only to sexual aspects of our lives. You can lust after power, after money, after food, etcetera. When we walk after our own lusts we are living to our flesh nature, not our spiritual nature.

In the last days scoffers will live for their own lusts- unconcerned with others, unconcerned with being selfless but rather growing more and more selfish.

How much of our happiness is dependent upon things going our way? How much of our happiness is conditioned upon our selfish desires being met? How often we perceive our happiness being contingent upon selfish gain even going so far as to trick ourselves into believing our selfish desires are not really selfish at all but rather normal expectations from life. When we convinced ourselves that our desires are natural, normal, expected, common to all then we set ourselves up, trapping ourselves in a corner because then we've conditioned our happiness upon those accepted expectations. So naturally when we don't obtain those things we believe we are unlucky, unblessed, failures at even the most basic expectations out of life.

Jesus had it so right when He said this--

Mat 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
Mat 6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

We have to set aside EVERY single expectation of the offerings in this world! Because those expectations can so easily become selfish lusts that we seek instead of seeking heavenly things. Instead of putting our treasures in heaven we've placed them on earth and they are ALL corruptible, they are ALL in danger of being taken from us. Only our heavenly treasures are secure.

We cannot be scoffers, walking after our own lusts, we simply cannot be those who are scoffing because they will NOT be saved, because they are NOT truly Gods.

More tomorrow by the grace of our Lord and Savior.

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