Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

Joy-Producing Promises

2 PETER 1:3-4 – His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

THEME OF THE DAY. JOY-PRODUCING PROMISES. Jerry Bridges offers us an excellent insight on the Christian life. He wrote, “The Bible is God’s self-revelation to humanity. In a broad sense, it tells us who God is, what He requires of us, and what He promised to us. We call these last two precepts and promises. Among Christians today, there is a tremendous amount of biblical illiteracy. Many seldom, or never, read their Bible. They attend church somewhat regularly and listen to perhaps a 25-minute motivational message that may or may not be based on Scripture. But they never read or study the Bible for themselves. A second group of believers are more dedicated. They read their Bibles, perhaps attend an adult Sunday school class and listen to a biblically based sermon every Sunday. They have a reasonable knowledge of Scripture. But the thought of applying the Bible to their daily lives in an intentional and specific way has never occurred to them. They, to a degree, possess much factual knowledge of Scripture but pay little attention to its precepts. There is still a third group of believers who take seriously the precepts of Scripture. They do seek to apply the Bible to their daily lives; but unfortunately, they know little about appropriating and praying over God’s promises. My perception of our Christian community is that only a small minority of believers are both seeking to obey the precepts and live by the promises of God’s Word.”

Bridges’ words are really good food for thought. He has identified three groups of Christians; those who are hardly in the Bible and thus don’t produce lives of obedience to it or clinging to its promises. The second group of Christians receive a healthy and regular diet of the Bible but they don’t put it into their lives. And the third group of believers he identifies are those who are actively doing the Word of God but fall short on feasting on and enjoying the promises of God.

So, two questions for us to consider. First, which group of Christians would we most identify with? And secondly, are we included in the small minority of Christians Bridges believes are the only ones obeying the commands of the Bible and clinging to the promises in the Bible? For the remainder of today’s nugget, let’s evaluate the latter – a people clinging to the promises in the Bible. We will do so by identifying two promises of Jesus. If we are applying them in our lives, there will be joy and proves we are living out the promises of God.

First, Jesus promises He will be with us all the time – “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b). Friends, we are never alone. That defines our relationship with our reconciled God. When deep sorrow comes, we are never alone. When painful grief comes, we are never alone. When feeling abandoned and rejected, we are never alone. When exhausted and emptied of strength, we are never alone. Why? Jesus promised His Presence. Always and for all time. Focus on this promise during tough times and experience the joy of the Lord such meditation brings.

Another joy-producing promise of Jesus is “I will never leave you or forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5c). Couple this one with the previous promise and let the joy overflow our hearts. Jesus promised to not only be with us, but never to leave us. That means nothing, not even ourselves, will separate us from His love. What glorious promises! And they are for us . . . to live on day by day until we surrender them for sight of the Promiser. Cling to them. They will get us through each pressing day on the journey to heaven.

PRAYER: “Father, I praise You for giving me sure promises that I can rely upon all the time.”

QUOTE: “The preciousness of God’s promises is grounded in the preciousness of the Promise Giver.”