How to Live an Effective and Productive Life

My journal entry read: Being Effective and Productive. As I wrote it I knew God's Spirit was sharing something of lasting value with my soul. It is easy to mark time, be busy here and there, keep moving, embrace lots ot things and not be effective or productive. Someone said: Doing things right is efficient and doing the right thing is effective. I really want to do both - how about you? Let's keep reading the bible and journaling and sharing with others what God has shown us - Let's live effective and productive lives for Him.

SCRIPTURE:
2 Peter 1: 4 – 8
Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 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. (NIV)

OBSERVATION:

God have given us the eternal essentials for life by His divine power. He has taken everything we need for life and godliness and given it to us through our knowledge of Him.
As we discover what He has given to us we see emerging the great and precious promises that He has given each one of us. God keeps all of His promises. Psalm 76, which is also a part of the reading today declares that, “It is right to make vows or promises to God but you better fulfill them and not break them.” God keeps His promises, they are held by His divine character – essential held by who He is. Through His divine power and promises we are able to participate in the divine nature – being more like God.

God’s power and promises provide escape from the corruption in the world. (verse 4)

God’s power and promises provide us with power over our evil desires. (verse 4)

Peter holds out before us the evils of this world on one hand and the powers of our God on the other. A quick view of His life and ministry and one finds that Peter understood them both. Peter would know what it is like to break promises with God. He would know of the forces of the corrupt world that would press to pull him away from the embrace His call to follow Jesus and deny the Lord. Even when He would deny the Lord - the Lord would not deny Him. Jesus would come back and recall Peter to the plan He had for him. He called Him on the shores of the Galilee to come and fish for men and He would call Him again following His crucifixion and resurrection. Even in denial, Peter was loved by the Lord.

God is faithful even when we are faithless.
In verse 5 we are told that because the world is what it is and God is who He is, we must make every effort to add essential components to our lives. Our lives in the Lord start with faith in Him but must move beyond simple belief. We must add goodness to our lives – not just being good in an experiential sense as the Lord has declared we are good but that we live out our goodness. We must add knowledge – not just about knowing about God but knowing Him and learning of His truth and precepts. If this were not enough Peter encourages us to grab a hold of the divine nature (verse 4) that we have been called to live in. Self-control is not controlling yourself by yourself but allowing God to assist you by His power to control the things that would pull you into the corruption that he has already mentioned.

To be a partaker in the divine nature, I must be perseverant.

This perseverance is a result of God’s character or godliness being lived out in me. Peter now tells us that these qualities are manifested in how we treat others – brotherly kindness and with love.
God’s character lived in and through us will always result in how we treat others.
The old chorus said it best: “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love.”
While many books have been written and many seminars have been held it is these qualities that Peter mention that allow our lives to be a witness for the Lord and are the ways to live a productive and effective life.

APPLICATION:
I will pursue these qualities for my own life and resist the tendency to allow my flesh to rise up and instead of adding to my life the things which the Lord would have I can easily diminish His work in me by removing goodness, self-control, brotherly kindness and love. I must persevere in living for Him and pleasing Him and not be consumed with pleasing self or others. It is all about you Lord and not me. Have your way in me.

PRAYER:
Father God, give me (us) the desire to follow you and allow your divine nature to become apart of my humanness. Take my life and make it what you want it to be and my I live out your word by making every effort to see your life and character lived in and through me. Give me the courage to make room for who you are in every situation in my life. May others know I follow you because of my kindness and love. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Keep growing and going and serving Jesus with all your heart and Live God's Best for you.
I pray you move towards greater effectiveness and productive,
Pastor Bernie