11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

My daughter is in the process of making me a birthday card. I can already imagine what it will look like. Crayon marks inside and outside of the lines. Crumpled paper. Maybe the page is riped in a couple places. Squiggly letters as if she wrote "Happy Birthday" while sitting on the washing machine. And stickers... everywhere. But you know what? I'm going to take that picture, take it to work, and I'm going to hang it up in my office-- proudly! 

Do you know why? My daughter made it for me. She loves me. And I love her. 

If I, a sinfully broken man, know how to love my daughter and sing over her efforts, how much more will our Heavenly Father accept our blemished obedience? Our tainted earnest love for Him? Our out of tune songs? Our disjointed, not-very-eloquent prayers? Our stumbling and getting back up to cling to the cross, our repenting and re-resolving, and our throwing ourselves onto our First Love once again, and our crying out in a loud voice of prayer "God You're enough for me! Help this rotten heart of mine! I want You to be enough for me O God!"

Perhaps not that different from the man's cry "I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24)

Jesus Christ the Son of God suffered, bled, died a gruesome death, and rose again to give us the grace to cry out that prayer (and many more like it) to our Heavenly Father. 

Hebrews 4:14-16 says "Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Peter closes this letter by calling us to make godly, holy, and eternal investments and deposits-- into the things that really matter this side of heaven. And God will never turn away the affection and obedience of His children. He sent His Son so that He could accept it all and sing over us in love.  

2 Peter 3:14 says "be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace."

Romans 12:1-2 says "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."