I'm Amber, wife to Chris, mother to Matt, Jake, Karalyn, Katie, Kylie and Ben, plus two little babies I never got to meet. I'm a pastor's wife, chef, chauffeur, housekeeper, finder-of-all-missing-things, seamstress, homework-checker, errand-runner, grocery list maker and shopper, couponer, story reader, piano player, worship leader, encourager, kisser of owies and washer-of-all-the-little-people.
Now before you get the wrong idea about me and place me on a pedestal of some sort, let me shoot straight with you. We've eaten out three times this week (and by eating out, I mean I slung a paper bag with some fried food in it towards my kids and told them to eat up). My husband does all of the morning drop-offs while I mope around in my slippers and robe, mourning the loss of my beauty sleep. My house is a WRECK and has been since Christmas. I don't know that I could find anything amidst all the chaos right now. The last thing I sewed for my daughter came apart at the seams. My kids don't ever have homework, so checking it is the easiest thing I do. I haven't made a list for groceries in quite a while, so we are eating whatever is in the freezer, or more accurately, whatever is in the sack I throw at my kids. I DO ROCK THE COUPONING. I dread bedtime because reading those stories takes FOREVER. I don't get to play the piano for my own enjoyment nearly as often as I'd like. I feel so incredibly inadequate as a leader of worship in our praise band. Encouraging is sometimes hard for me because I just want to smack you and tell you to get over it. Getting bandaids for all those owies is one of my least favorite things. Seriously, you don't need a bandaid for something I can't even see. I hate bath time so much that we bathe the kids on a pattern. If Bath Day is A and No Bath Day is B, we do ABABAB some weeks. But many others we do ABBABBBBBABBBBBBBB. Grab a wipey and get yourself clean, I say.
So most days I feel totally inadequate and like I am failing completely. So when I come across a verse like this, I cling to it with everything I am.
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. (2 Peter 1:4)
Word.
Divine power. Godliness. Glory. Excellence. Precious and very great promises. Divine nature.
His word is so full of precious and very great promises. And He gives them to us so that we can participate in the divine nature. We are not slaves to sin any longer. We are children of the One True King, partakers in the divine nature, co-heirs with Jesus Christ himself. Hallelujah.
I don't have to be all the things that I think I have to be. You want to talk about corruption because of sinful desire? That's me, trying to Be All and Help All and Save All and Serve All and Do All. If people look at me and think, "Wow, she's got it all together!" they don't get to see Jesus in me. Anything good you see in me is Jesus, because I am corrupt.
So what are these very great and precious promises? They are scattered in the pages of God's Word. Throughout Scripture, we find a treasure trove full of precious promises, things that God has promised He will do for us, his beloved. The greatest promise of all?
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life."
That's John 3:16, in case you don't know. He loves us so much that He sent Jesus to die so that we don't have to spend eternity apart from him in Hell. We get everlasting life. What an incredible promise! He gives us everything we need for life and godliness here on earth and he gives us eternity with him...IF we believe.
Oh, these precious promises.
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