Make Every Effort: Peter's Fervent PleasSample

Day 14: Peter’s Fourth Fervent Plea

2 Peter 3:13-15: “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. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.”

It is mind boggling to consider eternity, but maybe this will help. Find one grain of sand in the desert or at the seashore. Consider it to represent your entire life here on earth. Then consider your life–your grain of sand—compared to all the grains of sand at every seashore and in every desert in the entire world. That can be a small picture of our life compared to eternity.

Our life here is important because God loves us and created our life for a purpose. But our time on earth is nothing compared to eternity, so preparing for eternity needs to be our number one priority by far! And there will be nothing boring about it. The idea of floating around on a cloud and playing a harp might be fine for some–at least for an hour or so—but then what? We really don’t know what to expect, except that there will be no war or sin or arguments or accidents and no weeds and no thorns. The earth will be restored to the original beauty and perfection with which Jesus created it, and then it will get better from there. And with an infinitely, creative God, we’ll have a fabulous adventure forever.

1 John 3:2 promises: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

Revelation 22 tells us that the trees will produce fruit every month. There will be no more night, and we’ll never get tired. We won’t need the sun because the creator of the sun will be our light, and we will reign with Christ forever and ever. Everything there will be better than we have ever imagined.

Knowing this and recognizing that this life is brief compared to the future, how should we then live? Of course, this life seems long, and for some it is incredibly difficult, but difficulties strengthen us because they force us to rely on Jesus more. The Bible tells us in several places that it is actually a privilege for us to suffer here. Here is one in Philippians 1:29 (NLT): “you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him.”

Paul recognized this great value of suffering with Christ and prayed for it in Philippians 3:10: “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.”

As we wrap up this lesson series on Peter’s fervent pleas to “make every effort,” and make revolutionary life changes, join me in this beautiful prayer from Colossians 1:9-14: “We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Thank you for completing this plan; we hope it has helped you to resolve to make every effort to cling to Christ and allow Him to transform your life into who He wants you to be. We invite you to visit our resources site Biblword.net for more in formation, and invite you to sign up for our daily devotional