We Need a Flight Plan

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DO YOU EVER feel the need to hire a cinema detective to find a decent movie to watch these days? There’s nothing worse than leaving a theater feeling slimed by immorality, gratuitous killings, and F-bombs. As a result, I watch very few films, and I have walked out of some.

A FEW MONTHS AGO, my husband and I visited Austin, our state capital. It’s a fun place with good restaurants and a great hiking trail right in the middle of the city. That Saturday night, we took a stroll downtown, and the slimy movie scene was playing out on the streets (minus the gratuitous killing part).

Much of our culture defines this as “living.”

MY DAUGHTER recently showed me a conversation on Facebook where a young-adult acquaintance was encouraging her FB friends to get out and live, which the girl illustrated explicitly as getting high on drugs and doing the wild thing (my rewording), and doing that the entire weekend. She was serious. My heart ached for her.

NOTHING NEW in seeing people constantly seek ways to numb their souls from the stresses and dissatisfactions of life. But “numbing” ourselves flies in the face of actually living — engaging on an emotional and spiritual level with ourselves and others. What disturbs me is seeing more and more Christians doing this. And I am not exempt. How many times have I numbed myself through hours spent playing addictive video games, socializing online, or partaking in sugar highs?

METHODS MAY DIFFER, BUT THE EFFECTS ARE THE SAME.

NOT THAT doing mindless activities are bad. They have a place and purpose. But let’s face it — is spending hours upon hours numbing your mind of pain healthy? Not to mention our children mimic what they see adults doing.

HERE’S MY PLAN OF ESCAPE: buy a plane ticket to get out of Rottenness and Corruption, those places that are ruled by lust and greed.

WHAT?! Are you laughing at my plane ticket idea? Read this . . .

“…that you may escape by flight from the moral decay, rottenness and corruption that is in the world because of lust and greed…” 2 Peter 1:4 (amp)
TOUCHÉ!

The apostle Peter describes something I’ll label the character pyramid. It’s divine. Supernatural. And comes with promises.

The 4-Rs Flight Plan <2 Peter 1>

1) Read scripture faithfully.

v. 2
May God give you
more and more grace and peace
as you grow in your knowledge
of God and Jesus our Lord.

GOD, REMIND ME to spend time reading Your word every day, not out of legalistic duty, but out of relationship — to know You better.

The Divine promises:

vv. 3-4 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

2) Respond to the truth

vv. 5-7
In view of all this,
make every effort
to respond to God’s promises.
Supplement your faith
with a generous provision
of moral excellence,
and moral excellence with knowledge,
and knowledge with self-control,
and self-control with patient endurance,
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>and patient endurance with godliness,
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>and godliness with brotherly affection,
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>and brotherly affection with love for everyone.

I SEE A PYRAMID HERE, Lord. Help me to build a spiritual base of moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, and patience, which will lead to godliness so I can love those You call me to love.

3) Rehearse the truth (application)

vv. 8-9
The more you grow like this,
the more productive and useful you will be
in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But those who fail to develop in this way
are shortsighted or blind,
forgetting that they have been cleansed
from their old sins.

WHERE am I blind, Lord? Show me my shortsightedness. Give me a repentant heart.

4) Reap righteousness from the promise

v.10
So, dear brothers and sisters,
work hard to prove that you really are
among those God has called and chosen.
Do these things, and you will never fall away.<>

TIME TO TOSS out all the self-help books. This renewal is what I desire for my life. And then I’ll go back to the streets of Austin and bring a new movie scene to those God loves.>