In the Batter's Box of Life, Listen to Christ.

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

Matthew 17:5  NIV 

I was managing my youngest son's baseball team about a year ago and there was this one father who could be very encouraging. But, he could also be a bit overwhelming at times too. I kind of had to throw him out of the dugout. Then, he would tell his son what to do when he was up to bat. That's OK, except it would sometimes go against what my first base coach was signaling him to do. The poor kid would be up to bat, look over to the coach, then get in the batter's box and his dad would be trying to signal him what to be doing and his head would be going back and forth and then the pitch would come and you could just see that too much was going on in his head. He really struggled at the plate because he was trying to listen to the coach and his dad. I finally had to ask his dad to stop because it was confusing his son. 

I think sometimes we are a bit like that kid in the batter's box. We might go to church, read our Bible a bit, but we listen to a lot of other stuff too. The world is always trying to tell us something. We just need to listen to God. 

Being Sure of Yourself in Christ

Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make you calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

II Peter 1:10-11

First of all I think that you only worry about your salvation if you  are saved. If you are not saved you don't care. Peter is talking to people of faith. Not just faith in general, but, faith in Christ. He's talking about knowing Christ. Peter is all about effective and productive knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Sometimes we don't see the work of Christ in our lives because we  sense the battle within ourselves. For example, I am a teacher and this year I am teaching sixth graders English and History. An aide who works with some special needs students I have in a few classes tells me she doesn't know how I stay so calm because there are several students who struggle with their behavior. I don't always feel so calm, but my reactions apparently reflect that I am continually trying to be patient and redirect students to be on task and help them understand the tasks at hand. 

My point is that sometimes while we are fighting the good fight we may only sense the tension of the battle, but, because we are seeking Christ our faith is becoming effective and productive, even if we don't notice it. Remember, Christ is faithful to complete the work he started in our lives (Philippians 1:6). 

Father, help us to keep sowing seeds of righteousness. Open our eyes to see the effective and productive fruit your Spirit is producing in our lives. Praise be to you in us today!

FALLING FORWARD

"Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess." Hebrews 3:1

Remember the the story of Peter walking on the water toward Jesus (Matthew 14)? I think that is a great reminder and encouragement to me to fix my eyes on Jesus. He's walking toward Jesus, looking at Jesus but gets distracted by the wind! Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught Peter! 

Do you ever do that? Take a step of faith then realize you took a step of faith and begin to falter?  Of course, we all do.  Don't be discouraged, take Jesus's hand and let him lift you up.

To me one of Peter's strengths was that he always seemed to fall forward, toward Christ. Even when he denied Christ, he had followed him into the garden when everyone else took off. He fell forward, toward Christ. That is why I find Peter so encouraging. He fell. We all fall. But, I want to fall forward with my eyes fixed on Christ so that even when I stumble I will look up for Jesus's hand and he will be there to lift me up.

Father, help us to fix our eyes upon Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest whom we confess. Thank you for being there to lift us up when we fall. Praise be to you in us today!