2 Peter 1:1-4 - How much is enough?

Scripture: 2 Peter 1:1-4

Summary: May grace and peace be yours in abundance through the righteousness of God and Jesus Christ. His power has given us everything that we need. The things he has given us can help us escape the corruption of the world.

Thoughts: As I read this scripture I keep coming back to one line: "His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness." If God has given us everything that we need, why do we continue to struggle so hard to get things for ourselves? We teach our children that they have to make the best grades in school, so that they can go to the best colleges where they need to make even better grades, so that they can get a job making the most money, so that they can buy the biggest house and marry the best looking spouse. Where does it all end? If God has given us everything that we need for life why do we continue to try to get more? At what point do we get off of the merry go round and take a job that we love? When is it enough? Perhaps, instead, we should teach our children to have well rounded lives and to find a vocation that gives them a sense of fullfillment, rather than a high paying job. Let's show our children, through our own choices, what a well rounded, fulfilled adult looks like, so that they will have something meaningful to strive for.

Prayer: God, you have given me everything that I need "for life and godliness." Let this be enough for me. Amen.

James 4:1-6 - needs vs desires

Scripture: James 4:1-6

Summary: We have conflicts among ourselves because we long for things that we don't have. If we are a friend of the world (in other words, wanting worldly things) then we are an enemy of God.

Thoughts: There are so many things that I want but don't have. For instance, my dryer broke a couple of months ago.  Since my washer no longer works on the Permanent Press cycle, I decided that I should just buy a new washer and dryer. After all, the new machines are much more energy efficient than my old ones. So I began saving the $1000 that I would need to buy a new set.  But I still don't have the money because things kept coming up, like my car needing it's 60,000 mile checkup. Luckily, just the other day God taught me a lesson about wanting new things, when someone offered me a used dryer for $50. So now that I have both a washer and dryer again, I find that my "need" for a new washer and dryer was really just a "want." And I find myself wondering, how many of the other things that I think I need are really just desires? It's so easy in this day and time and place to be convinced that you have to have something. But if we let ourselves get too tied up in our desires, then we distance ourselves from God. We fill our lives and time with so much stuff that there is no room for God.

Prayer: Teach me, O Lord, to let go of the clutter in my life and to resist the temptation to own the latest and greatest stuff. Amen.