May 9, 2023: 2 Peter 3:14 - May We be Without Spot and Blameless

“Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless…” - 2 Peter 3:14

Before Jesus was crucified, died, resurrected, and ascended to heaven, He had told His apostles several times that He would soon be leaving them but that God would send them another Helper, or Comforter:

“If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever - the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him, nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” (Jesus Christ; 14:15-18)

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” (Jesus Christ; John 14:26)

“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth…” (Jesus Christ; John 16:13)

When we decide in our heart to believe in Jesus as the Redeemer of our sins, the only One who can save us from all our sin, we are instantly filled with the Helper, who is also called the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul explained this:

“In Him [Jesus] you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” (Ephesians 1:13-14)

The Holy Spirit helps us to understand God’s word, the Bible, and to get to know Him better. Part of knowing Him is a desire to be more like Christ. When we look up to someone, we often try to be like them, and that is how we should live our lives when we are saved by Jesus. Notice than in the Scripture above from John 14:15-18, the first thing Jesus said was, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” Notice He did not say go and do whatever we want because we are saved by Him. If we abide by that type of thinking, we may not have truly accepted Jesus as our Savior and at a minimum, we are putting ourselves at risk of being swayed by the Devil to turn against God. While it can take some time for a new believer in Christ to begin to let go of their own sinful ways, as it did in my own life, eventually, there should be a noticeable change in that person that reflects Jesus in their life. When we love Jesus, we don’t want to disappoint Him and we try harder so that we don’t. Yes, we will still make mistakes, yes, we will still sin while we are in our sinful bodies here are on earth, but we should have a longing to please Him and to let go of this world that offers us no hope for our eternity. Over the years, by reading His word and praying often to Him, as I went through many difficult times in my family life, I have learned that I can depend on Jesus, no matter what; He is always there for me and always will be. Knowing that, I don’t want to be that selfish and sinful person that I used to be, because when I was, I had no peace in my life, only turmoil. Yes, I’m still a work in progress, and will be until I’m finally Home with Him. I am a sinner who has been saved by His grace, and I know that there is nothing that I could ever do that could save me from my sins. As we go through our lives, may we let the Holy Spirit lead us in these perilous times when sin abounds and is exalted and anything that is of Christ is hated, and may we remember the words of the apostle Paul:

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 15:58) ✝️