Can you see clearly?

TODAY'S READING: 2 Peter 1:3-11
Have you ever been in a car that is driving in a rainstorm or a snowstorm? I would imagine all of us have been. But how many of us have been in that situation when the windshield wipers don't work? Now that is a whole different situation.
What Peter writes about here is the difference between driving through the storms of life with or without spiritual wipers. As we journey though life we will experience storms. There will be times when we are tested. The question is, can you see where you are going?
Peter provides us with a road-map for the adventure called following Jesus. It is an adventure that begins with faith but becomes so much more. Here is what Peter says...

Your faith will produce a life of moral excellence.
A life of moral excellence leads to knowing God better.
Knowing God leads to self-control.
Self-control leads to patient endurance.
Patient endurance leads to godliness.
Godliness leads to love for other Christians.
Finally you will grow to have genuine love for everyone.

The problem is that many people stop at step one or two. I have seen many Christians who think that once you have faith in Jesus you have arrived. Once you come up out of the waters of baptism it is time to set the spiritual cruise control and wait for heaven. But that is not what Peter says.
Others believe that moral excellence is the end of the road. They feel that once they become a Christian all they have to do is be a good person. Christianity becomes a list of things to do and not do. But that is not what Peter says.
Once we have faith in Jesus and begin to live it out with morality, our adventure is just beginning. This is simply a foundation upon which we get to know God better and become more like Him.
We should get to know God better and develop self-control. This means we act less like our old self and more like God. This will make us more patient and God-like. And eventually we will come to love everyone like God does. And guess what? That means we will look like Jesus. We will live and act like the One who was willing to completely give Himself away for the sake of others. Love will not just consist of "being nice" to others. It will mean we give all for others.
Is the windshield of your life blurred because you misunderstand God's goal in your life? Are you coming up short of what Peter describes? Do you need to turn on the spiritual wipers to see God more clearly?
Think about where you are along the process Peter talks about. Do you need to press on to another level? The Kingdom of God in your life will only go as far as you are willing to let it. Do you need to leave the rest stop you are at and get back on the road to discovering God? I think we all need to go a little further so we can become more like what we are called to be.

shine!
Jason