Enjoying life?

“If you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it. The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil.” (2 Peter 3:10-12)

Notice this promise to enjoy life and see many happy days begins with keeping our tongues under control. Why? An out of control one is like igniting a can of gasoline! There is little it won't touch, leaves very little unaffected by its attacks, and creates a bunch of havoc that is difficult to get under control once it has done the work of ignition! Search for peace and work to maintain it. More than ever, this is a time when we need to be working toward peace, not moving further and further away from it by driving out own agendas, creating divisions amongst groups, or telling each other untruths of any kind. It takes work to attain peace and much more to maintain it. Why? We humans always find ways to mess with peace - thinking we know best, have a better plan, or can get it done quicker.

I want God to be open to my prayers, don't you? I want him to have his eyes on me and his ear attentive to my need. Why would God turn a deaf ear to our prayers? Maybe it is because we are so busy seeking our own agenda that we don't see he isn't 'with us' in it! Truth turns back evil, peaceful reactions stump someone bent on stirring up trouble, and wisdom turns to God when things seem 'unwell' in the situation. Wise people actually turn away from evil - they don't pursue it, run it down, and tell it off!

It may come as a surprise to you, but it took me a long time to admit I didn't like confrontation. I would pull into my shell and try to avoid it all cost. Do you know what that made me? Miserable! Why? I was always trying to please everyone, no matter how insane their actions were, or their demands could become. While God wants peace, he doesn't want us to be curled up in our shells, either. He wants us to live peacefully with each other, so others may learn from our example. God will watch over the circumstances, give us wisdom, and help us navigate successfully through difficulties, but we won't do this inside our shell! Just sayin!

Never, never, never

"Change is the end result of all true learning." (Leo Buscaglia) As I listened to a gospel song the other day, I actually learned something. We use the word 'always' to describe God's faithfulness, but could it be that the better word we should use is 'never'? As in:

“I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” (Hebrews 13:5) - we are never left on our own, to work out our own misery or find our own way in life.

"He will never give up on you. Never forget that." (I Corinthians 1:9) - we might feel like it is time to give up, but there is never a right time to give up or give in - God wants us to never forget that he isn't about to give up on us - no matter what.

"If we give up on him, he does not give up—for there’s no way he can be false to himself." (2 Timothy 2:13) - God can never be anything but what he is and that is faithful, loving, tenderhearted, and longsuffering.

"Your kingdom is a kingdom eternal; you never get voted out of office. God always does what he says,
and is gracious in everything he does." (Psalm 145:13) - we may try to deny he is present or that he is in control of our lives, but he never will violate one of his promises.

"We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love." (I John 4:16-18) - his love never fails and the hope his love gives us should never fail to lift our hearts. His love, resident within us, has no fear - only trust, hope, and freedom.

I could go on and on about God's 'never' promises, but I think you get the idea. We often think 'always' is the best way to describe his grace, but maybe the best way is to say 'his grace will never fail', 'his mercy will never be too far away', and 'his faithfulness towards us will never run dry'. Just sayin!