8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I want my life to matter! If I were to die tomorrow, I would want people other than my immediate family to say they saw Jesus’ love in me. I also hope my family says these things about me, but I want my life to have positively impacted many people in this world of hurt and pain. The preceding verses talked about faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. These are the qualities that make a life matter. If you don’t have these, your life is sure to be ineffective and unproductive, or as I like to say it, useless and fruitless. I love woodworking. When you have just the right tool and the knowledge of how to use it correctly, you can do some wonderful things. I recently remade our kitchen cabinets. I made large drawers where small drawers used to be. I increased the usability of the space by reconfiguring shelves and adding pullout trays. There are new doors and drawer fronts. I can now look back at the project and see that the plan I had when I began, and the time and effort I put into the project accomplished the purpose. I was useful and fruitful as a craftsman. As I think about my spiritual life and the qualities that make it useful and fruitful, I have to be honest and say there are some floors that look like Swiss cheese. I have some gaps that I am prayerfully submitting to the Lord. I need His grace to fill in the missing places or my building will collapse. I know that if I stay submitted to the Lord my building will pass the final inspection. I can look at my life in my home and say I have been useful and fruitful. Those closest to me are striving to walk with Jesus. We all have our ups and downs, but our lives are moving a godly direction. My interactions at work are having a positive impact on people’s lives. Healing is taking place, restoration too. I am leaving a mark, and from what I can tell it is a positive one from an eternal perspective. I pray that when people remember me they don’t remember my name, but just that I let Jesus shine through me. The greatest compliment anyone could give me would be that I was like Jesus.
The Arnold Journey 