New Year's Challenge

What’s the point? What is life? Why are we here? During the rough patches in our lives, we ask these questions about our existence. As we start the new year and feel the motivation to start new habits and try new things, we must seek Him above all else. Today in church, we had a guest pastor come and walk us through 2 Peter 1: 1-11. I felt His presence today in our chapel and felt Him nudge me to share this message again to answer those lingering questions of why we are here.

2 Peter 1: 1-11- (New Life Version) “This letter is from Simon Peter. I am a missionary of Jesus Christ and a servant owned by Him. I am writing to those who have received the same faith as ours which is of great worth and which no money can buy. This faith comes from our God and Jesus Christ, the One Who saves. May you have more and more of His loving-favor and peace as you come to know God and our Lord Jesus Christ better. He gives us everything we need for life and for holy living. He gives it through His great power. As we come to know Him better, we learn that He called us to share His own shining- greatness and perfect life. Through his shining greatness and perfect life, He has given us promises. These promises are of great worth and no amount of money can buy them. Through these promises you can have God’s own life in you now that you have gotten away from the sinful things of the world which came from wrong desires of the flesh. Do your best to add holy living to your faith. Then add this a better understanding. As you have a better understanding, be able to say no when you need to. Do not give up. And as you wait do not give up, live God-like. As you live God-like, be kind to Christian brothers and love them. If you have all of these things and keep growing in them, they will keep you from being of no use and from having no fruit when it comes to knowing our Lord, Jesus Christ. But if you do not have these things, you are blind. You forget God saved you from your old life of sin. Christian brothers, make sure you are among those He has chosen and called out for His own. As long as you do these things, you will never trip and fall. In this way, the road will be made wide open for you. And you will go into the holy nation that lasts forever of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only One Who saves.”

This scripture is loaded and can be interpreted many ways; however, the main takeaway was that as His chosen people, we are called to be fruitful and productive. We are called to have faith, grow in our relationship with Jesus, remember His promises, live holy lives, have self-control, be persevering, and be Godly. We are called to go out and make a difference in the lives of those who don’t have faith or don’t know Jesus. If we don’t tell them the good news, how can we expect them to just know it? As 2017 starts, I want Jesus to work through me to save those souls who are lost. I know that I am too scared to do it on my own, but with Him, I know I can. My New Year’s Challenge is to populate heaven and help Him build His Kingdom. I want you to join me. As we carry on with our lives, it is important to reach out to others, be kind and spread God’s love. As we start back up school, jobs and the hustle and bustle of life, let’s remember to put Him first and know that He will work through us if we allow Him to. As we continue to ask, “What is the point?”, let’s answer it by saying we are here to thrive and be fruitful for our Creator. When you think about it, isn’t it amazing that we even exist?