This morning in Sunday School we covered 2 Peter 3:8 on our journey through 2^nd Peter. Peter wrote in certain terms, “Do not overlook this one fact…”(ESV) in relation to God’s faithfulness to his promise (interesting that “promise” is singular!). It is important not to demand that God act according to my timeline or my interpretation of his timeline. His plan is beyond my scope of understanding, and I must fall back to trusting him.

So how do I keep this one fact before me?

I am not a naturally remembering type of person. Saturday I had practice at church, and then I had two errands: 1. drop off the video that was due and 2. buy a ladder so I can evict the birds homesteading in our attic. I bought the ladder, a 20 footer so I can reach the vents on our 2^nd story house. I stuck the ladder in the back of my Ford Ranger, and it stuck 3 feet out the back. I wasn’t sure if that was a problem or not, and I didn’t want to take 20 minutes to find someone who could tell me. So I hopped in and headed straight home, and I completely forgot about my second errand. Now I am a rental-fee poorer and still frustrated with my forgetfulness. I need some reliable tools to help me remember.

I have found four tools for this purpose in Scripture, and I have an observation from my own life.

First is meditating on God and the Scriptures. I think of David, (At some later point I will defend him as an example to be followed. That is much under attack these days.) and that he was successful in consistently remembering who God is. Psalm 119 contains several references to meditating. 119:148 says, “My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise.” And there is that promise again. David followed the command given in Joshua 1:8 “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night.” So first, I need a steady diet of truth consumed slowly and fully chewed (What guy hasn’t heard, “Slow down and chew your food?”).

The second tool is ignoring the mockers in 2^nd Peter. In this letter, Peter reminds us that scoffers deliberately overlook the truth of Creation and the Flood. If I continually imbibe the drivel of the world, I will find it hard to understand Scripture. The principles of communication that motivate the world are completely different than those found in Scripture. God knows truth and seeks to communicate it so that we understand. The world has distorted perceptions of the truth, and your comprehension of it may not be a primary motivation.

The next two tools come from the Book of Daniel. Third is healthy treatment of the body. The young men, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego and Daniel were snatched from Judah and spirited away to pagan Babylon. These men maintained their purity and excelled in learning. One of the key ingredients to their success was diet. By getting their 4 servings of vegetables a day, they were in better health than all those who ate the king’s food…at Burger King. We may wish it were not so, but consuming unhealthy food affects us spiritually too.

Fourth is consistent prayer. Daniel prayed three times a day toward Jerusalem. In a pagan city and with great responsibilities, Daniel did not forget the truth. Consistently turning our attention to our invisible God lessens the hold that the world has on our minds.

This was brought home to me over the past month as I completed redecorating my office, a project that has lingered since we moved in two years ago. You can see the gold cowboy motif in the first picture; bucking broncos, hats, and boots. That overlaid with a storage-room motif wasn’t conducive to…well…anything.

Back in November, my wife bought me a gallon of Killz for my birthday. One day in February when I had been working too many hours a day, I came home to find her puttying all of the nail holes in the wall of our storage room. The little Dutch-boy stuck his finger in the dike and held back a flood. My wife puttied the holes and unleashed a flood of activity ending in an office.

Old Room

My Office

I have always thought that spirituality was primarily an internal activity—that the clutter of my environment shouldn’t hinder true spirituality. Now as I observe the changes in my attitude and behavior flowing from making my office “mine” I realize that God didn’t give us physical bodies as a burden. They can powerfully contribute to spirituality. My environment, my diet of food, my diet of popular culture, and my habits of communion with God can all cooperate to keep this one fact before always before me.