If there is nothing in the future to look forward to, then what are you living for? With dark clouds on the horizon, what do you want to get out of bed for? If the sun does not rise in the east, we will surely just stay in bed. 

We people need something to get up for. A beautiful sunrise often gets us out of bed so we can marvel at the beauty of the breaking morning. Or it’s the sound of the birds that make us want to get going. 

But sometimes that’s not enough. Sometimes the pressure of a dark future is too much, and we need something more. Then earthly stuff is not enough to make us get up. 

Then we need God’s promises. When facing a challenge, we must know that God promises to be with us. When our due date arrives, we can hold on to the promise that Jesus has already opened the doors of heaven for us and that a life of happiness and peace lies ahead of us forever.  

Without God’s promises for the future, without His salvation for us through Jesus Christ, it is impossible to get out of bed and start the day. God’s promises make it possible for us to face the unknown of the day. 

The promises of God make us want to walk into the day differently. You see, when we share in God’s promises, when it is our fuel to walk into the day, we no longer want to live the way we lived in the past. 

We want to start living more and more like a child of God. In a way, we want to and must wear the T-shirt, so to speak, of being a child of God. We must take off the dirty clothes of the world. We want to and must start living more and more like Jesus showed us when He lived here on earth. 

4We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.  

We cannot become or be God, but God’s promises and putting on the new T-shirt make it possible for us to try and become more like God. We can now begin to think like God and act in love. 

We can live in such a way that we love others as we love ourselves. Everywhere we go, we can look for places to make a difference, because it’s not our self that comes first, but the other person’s needs. 

We should look at the world through God’s eyes. Then we will also become sad and wonder what we can do to bring our brothers and sisters who’ve turned away from the right path back to the Father. Because He stands waiting with open arms for everyone who has strayed to return to Him. 

God’s promises put a thick sparkly edge around the dark clouds. That’s why we want to get up every day. Let’s put on our Child of God T-shirts and align our behaviour with this. 

Scripture
 2 Peter 1:3-11

Reflection
Which promises do you cling to?
Where do you still get caught up in the world?
How do you have to live differently in the T-shirt? 

Prayer
Father, thank you for all the promises in the Word and that they also come true in my life. Help me to put on the Child of God T-shirt so that my lifestyle will match it. Amen.