• “Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these (the events surrounding the last days), be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace” (2 Peter 3:14).
• “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8).

Be diligent, live as children of light—these are all imperatives, meaning that the writer is not suggesting that we do these things, but demanding that we do these things. Keep in mind that the writers have been inspired by God, and the writers are writing to believers, describing us as a branch, beloved, children of light. So, what does this actually mean for us as believers?

We must first understand that perfect obedience is required for a relationship with the Lord. This fact throws up a seemingly insurmountable obstacle. How we live is confirmation to ourselves and to the world that we are in Christ. Knowing Him, believing what He has done, and knowing who we are in Him are all essential to a walk with Jesus. And the proof is in our obedience. Obedience does not save us, but it proves our salvation. But, and it’s a big but, we are unable to achieve perfect obedience. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

Looking first at the first passage quoted above, focus on the word “found.” In this case, it has a legal connotation. When we stand before an earthly judge of any kind, we are “found” innocent or guilty; and if found guilty, we are given a consequence. This is the judgment. When we stand before our Righteous Judge, likewise we will be judged and “found” either blameless or guilty (Matthew 25:31-46). However, as believers we can be at peace; when we are in Christ, we are judged blameless because Jesus has already achieved perfect obedience and then paid our debts with his perfect sacrifice and therefore secured our pardon. Past tense. Final. Done! When we are in Christ, we are clothed with his robes of righteousness, and that is what God sees when we stand before Him. Jesus paid it all, as the hymn goes. Praise God!!

So, then, if He has already accomplished our atonement by His death on the cross, and we have received his indescribable gift of salvation, then why the call to be diligent when Christ has already done the work on our behalf? What good does it do us? Once again, how we live is confirmation to ourselves and to the world that we are in Christ. Knowing Him, believing what He has done, and knowing who we are in Him are all essential. And the proof is in our obedience. Obedience does not save us, but it proves our salvation. We are saved by His obedience; and we are saved for our obedience.

John the apostle, probably Jesus’ best friend on earth and now writing as an old man in 1 John, writes “We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did” (1 John 2:3-6).

This is a huge endeavor, but remember what Jesus tells us, “I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

What a great God we serve. He doesn’t require anything that he doesn’t provide the resources to enable . Jesus is not only our why, but also our how. “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God” (1 John 3:9). How does God enable us to remain, to be diligent to live as children of light?

• We have His paternity: We have been born of God and therefore are  new creations in Christ.
• We have His presence: This passage tells us that God’s seed (the Holy Spirit) remains in us.
• We have His power: The one who lives in us is the Creator, Redeemer, the All-Powerful One. “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
• We have His purpose: “But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins” (1 John 3:4). “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).

And after the why and how, we have the what—what does it look like. This devotion is entitled “The Dash” referring to that little punctuation mark that separates our date of birth from our date of death in an obituary or on a gravestone. That dash is our life. What does living as children of light look like?

The Bible is full of commands. Over the years, I have written many devotions about how to grow in our spiritual relationship, our holiness, our walk with Christ, all gleaned from the Scriptures. When John says, “And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us” (1 John 3:23), the word command is bigger than any one command or set of commands. It is the overall demand of the word of God, of the life of Jesus. What and who Jesus is defines righteousness, and what he says defines obedience.

We are called to imitate Christ. How do we know what that looks like? He tells us in the scriptures. For example, read the Sermon on the Mount. Our goal is to be Christlike. One “test” that I use is in every thought, word, or deed, I ask if it will be pleasing to God. Yes, God knows our hearts, and he knows our good intentions. But to a watching world, our actions speak louder than words. The being is in the doing. That’s your “dash.”

“For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life” (Psalm 56:13).

In Christ,

Judy

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have a peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Romans 5:1-4).

This is the sixth and final post on this topic of “choices.” By now, you should be familiar with this progression in our choice-making:

• Your desires drive your thoughts.
• Your thoughts direct your actions.
• Your actions become your habits.
• Your habits mold your character.
• Your character shapes your destiny.

Our destiny provides our “why.” Perhaps we should have started here. As Stephen Covey writes in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, “Begin with the end in mind.” In one sense, this progression is really a circle. Our desires impact our destiny, and our destiny impacts our desires. As Jesus puts it: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Luke 12:34).

For believers, our ultimate destiny is eternal life with Christ; it is to have the confidence that our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, to be counted with the sheep at Judgment Day, to be invited to that glorious Marriage Supper of the Lamb. All we must do to have eternal life is to receive God’s gift of salvation. But there is more to it than that. We are promised rewards in heaven. As Charles Stanley writes in a blog post entitled The Judgment of Believers on his In Touch website:

“We are either going to be rewarded or lose reward in this judgment (of believers). Knowing what’s at stake eternally should motivate us to live a life that’s obedient and pleasing to God because we will be rewarded according to the way we have lived.”

Let me emphasize that the doctrine of rewards does not imply that it is our works that save us. But, as Paul said in Ephesians, “For we a/re God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” And there are more Scriptures that speak of our individual capacity and circumstances for good works. God will not judge us on a comparison basis (after all, none of us is Mother Teresa). He will judge us based on what we do with what we have been given (remember the parable of the Widow’s Offering). And Matthew relates a parable about how servants used the resources they had been given to invest—whether it was ten talents or only five, concluding with: “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’” (Matthew 25:21).

Remember, we all have a destiny, and it is eternal. Therefore, choose your desires, thoughts, and actions wisely, because they will drive your habits, character, and ultimately your destiny. I am looking forward to the day when I can rejoice in heaven, sharing in my Master’s happiness alongside each of you.

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).

In Christ,

Judy