10.25.07
“HEAVENLY HARMONY!”
II Peter 3:13-14
“But in keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless, and at peace with Him.”
The space shuttle Discovery and its seven-astronaut crew blasted into space at 11:38 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday. The launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center has the task of delivering the Harmony connecting node that will anchor future laboratories to the International Space Station.
I love the name that has been given to the Italian made connecting node–”Harmony.” It has a special ring to it and a deeper significance. It will be the location where subsequent additions to the Space Station will be united. Harmony carries in it’s meaning the concept of being united.
In this third chapter, Peter has been speaking of the day of the Lord, when the heaven and earth would be destroyed with fervent heat and a new heaven and a new earth would appear. In light of this prophecy of the destruction of things as we know them, he asks this question in verses 11-12: “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.”
Taking a candid look around us we find that we live in a world of conflict, pain and destruction, and the future looks even more bleak. In light of all of this, what kind of people should we be?
In the midst of the increasing chaos of our modern world, how does the concept of “harmony” fit in? One aspect of harmony is “peace” and “accord.” In a world where there is bickering, arguing, conflict, fights and war, we need peace and accord—”harmony.” It is vital that in the midst of the stormy seas of life we can know peace and live in harmony with those around us. (Even the knot-heads—no—especially the knot-heads).
God has never promised us that He was going to change our world and give us pleasant, darling people to live with. Don’t expect that to happen! We are stuck with the ones we have.
Jesus prayed to His Father before His crucifixion. He prayed about you and me. His prayer was very significant. He prayed that we not be taken out of the world, but that the Lord would be with us in the world. Please allow His words in John 17:15-17 fill you. This is “harmony” with the Lord: “My prayer is not that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; Your Word is truth.”
Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing.
- - - Pastor Cecil