January 9th
Hijacking the American Dream
But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 2 Peter 1:5-7
What’s the destination of your train? Oh, you didn’t know that you have a train? Well of course you do! We all have one-it’s called Life.
At the end of your life, when your train stops and you walk out the door, where will you find yourself?
You see, this is the most important question we can answer for ourselves. But unfortunately, many of us are more caught up in how nice our train is than in where our train is going. How soft is the bed? What’s the thread count in those sheets? Is the food in the dining car gourmet, or just cafeÌ? And, for goodness sake, the coffee had better be from our favorite name brand chain.
Jesus told a parable in Luke 12 to show us just how foolish this way of thinking is. He told the story of a man who had a huge harvest-I mean bumper crops-and he didn’t have enough space in his barns to hold it all. So he built bigger, better barns and thought to himself, I’m set for life! Now I can take it easy for the rest of my days, eating and drinking to my heart’s delight.
God interrupts the man’s celebrations with a terrible message. Fool, this night your soul will be required of you. Then Jesus drops the punch line, So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God.
In other words, even if your train is made of pure gold, it’s worthless if it drives you straight to Hell. You would be better off in a train made of trashcans that gets you to Heaven. So how do you make sure your train is heading to the right place? It all starts with faith in Jesus’ death on the cross for your sins, but in our verses for today, Peter tells us it should build from there.
Our faith is our ticket to board a Heaven-bound train, but what makes us rich towards God is building on our faith virtue, and on virtue knowledge, and the list goes on. If we will do these things then our faith will bear fruit, storing up riches where they will last forever-in Heaven.
Prayer Father God,
Thank You for making a way for me to arrive in Heaven! I need Your help to build my life right down here on earth. Please show me how to build on my faith so that it bears fruit that will last forever!
Amen