Thursday, January 29, 2015

In our last visit we considered a number of couplets I wrote while reflecting on some of what I know about Jesus Christ as part of our study of 2nd Peter 1:3-11. The couplet I didn’t finish was this: Jesus is trustworthy in his promises, nevertheless, true to his perceptions. You can count on Jesus being trustworthy when he makes a promise. Why is it, then, that sometimes we don’t benefit from those promises? I encouraged you to read John 2:23-25: “While he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous sign he was doing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.” Jesus is not frivolous with his promises, as great and precious as they are. You cash in on promises by faith. He knows if your prayers are genuine. He knows if you claim a promise, what your motive might be. Remember what James said about prayer, chapter 4:3, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” He promises to free you so that you might serve. He promises to give you plenty so that you will be able to share with others. He promises to forgive you so that you might forgive others. If your focus is on yourself he knows that and can’t legitimately entrust much to you. If your focus is on him and you desire to honor and please him with what he gives you, he will do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.” Trust him.