Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 7

  So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14 because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.  2Peter 1:12-15

        Peter refers to his body as a tent. When we discussed this in life group, one of the attendees stated, "I wish God had given me a one person tent instead of a 2 person tent." The point Peter is making is that tents house the person inside it. Who we are is not our body! So much time and money is spent on making the body desirable to the on-lookers and most of it is wasted because who we are is inside. It's like a candy bar - my mouth waters when I see that orange and brown covering of a Reese's candy. I go an spend an "Outrageous" sum of money to get one and the first thing I do is rip off and throw away that wrapper that drew me to it. Why? Because I identified what I wanted by the wrapper but what I craved was inside. You are covered by a wrapper but the real you is inside.

      Because of that knowledge, Peter was unafraid of his body dying and the pain to come because he knew that the real him would live on once the wrapper was discarded. This is why he has been encouraging us on how to purify our inside because we want to be desired by Him who sees through the "tent".

      Have you ever heard someone described by, "They have a good personality"? This is usually code for "they are ugly". People born without the external appearance that society has deemed desirable work on growing the inside, generally speaking.. I'm always suspect of a Christian artist or preacher that is too good-looking. So much of their appeal or acceptance may have come through the wrapper than what's inside.

      Do you consider yourself as a soul inside a body or a body with a soul? Which comes first or primary in your thinking? Which are you feeding with supplements or giving filler to? Which are you working out?  Paul says to Timothy, who by the way was young and the younger you are, the greater the temptation to fixate on the external because by the time you're my age, you have given up ...

  "train yourself to be godly. 8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." 1Tim. 4:7,8 

        Work on your soul. Build it up. Make it so desirable that people will see a glow coming through your tent that draws people in the dark to it. A friend of mine who has solar panels says that whenever there is a power outage, his is the only house on the dark street that is all lit up. Thats what people need to see.