Called to Grow

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread show in Boise love totaled a reading cold sees course is a strange creature found attached to rocks and shells.

It looks like a soft plastic tube waving with the current drawing its nutrients from the passing water leaves the passive life far removed from its once active youth sees Quickstart's life is a tadpole with a primitive spinal cord and brain that helps it find food and avoid home is a juvenile expensive studies exploring the ocean. But something happens when it reaches adulthood settling. Let's rock it stops exploring and growing in a macabre twist digested certain brain spineless full plus flowing passively with the current. The apostle Peter encourages us not to follow the sea squirt's fight since maturity frost means taking on God's nature. You and I are cold to grow mentally in our knowledge of Christ spiritually in traits like goodness, perseverance and self-control and practically by exploring new ways to love all the hospitality and serve others through our gifts. Such gross Peter says will stop us from living ineffective and unproductive lives this: to grow is is vital for the 70-year-old as it is for the teenager God's nature is as vast as the ocean. We barely swim a few feet explore his unending character take new spiritual inventions study serve, take risks, today's Scripture reading is from second Peter chapter 1 verses 3 to 9. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires for this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness and to goodness, knowledge, and to knowledge, self-control, and to self-control, perseverance, and to perseverance, godliness, and godliness. Mutual affection and to mutual affection, love, for if you possess these qualities in increasing measure they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, but whoever does not have the is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

Let's pray together. Father God, I find it astounding that Peter would use those words that we are cold to participate in your divine nature. Lord we want that today to grow more and more into your likeness and into goodness we don't want to be like the sea squirt passively going with the floor. Would you fill us afresh with your Holy Spirit today who yearns for us to take new adventures with you and will empower us to do so.

Lord, we open ourselves up to him and look forward to new possibilities of loving serving and growing. We pray this in Jesus powerful name.

Amen. Today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread ministries