For This Very Reason…

Re:Verse passage – 2 Peter 1:5-8  (day four)

For this very reason…

As Aaron wrote last week, our salvation came at a great personal cost to Jesus, and it is our obligation to walk in the honor of His victory. For this very reason, we are also called to walk in a way that is worthy of the calling/love/grace/salvation/mercy that we have received (Ephesians 4:1-3). I know that I am loved because of what Jesus did for me. There is no middle ground there. He loved me first, and now I am called to respond to that love in growth and walking in a way that is worthy of that.

I know that my wife, Ashley, loves me. I do not need to question it or live every day as if I must earn her love for me. For this very reason, my responsibility is to grow in that love and respond to her love in a joyful pursuit of not living unworthily of it. There is a vast chasm in my life between living unsure of her love for me and living in a way that is because she loves me. One side of that chasm is filled with joy, while the other side is not.

How much more is it with God, then? For this very reason, we are called to live our lives in a way that is a joyful response to understanding that Jesus loved us first and died for us, even while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). We should grow in Him because He loves us despite our sin, not because we must earn His love. So, for this very reason, rejoice always and live a life worthy of the calling you have received!