This week in our study of the life of Joseph, son of Jacob, author Mary Englund Murphy asked us to read 2 Peter 1:3-10. This passage greatly encouraged me and I knew there were probably three or more blog posts worth of material to be found within. Please click on the link to read it. I expanded my reading to include verses 2 and 11 to not only understand the context, but because they complete the thought Peter is expressing perfectly.
Contained in this passage is a list that Peter says will allow us to be "partakers of the divine nature" to help us escape "the corruption that is in the world by lust." Being raised legalistically and being highly analytical and logical, lists just make sense to me. Give me a list and I can check it off, right?
So what's on this list?
Well...it says that by applying diligence, that in my faith I should supply moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. And each of these are linked one with the next. My first thought upon reading it was that Paul taught in Galatians 5:22-23 that the fruit of the Spirit begins with love. Do they contradict one another? I don't think so. Instead I choose to look at them as bookends of a sort. Everything we do and live should begin and end with love. Period.
But back to the list. I could easily get bogged down in how to help myself have more moral excellence and have known many a Christian with a long list of don'ts that apparently feel the same way.
Dieting is my supreme manifestation of self-control...but it only lasts for a time. Knowledge? Yep...love that one. Perseverance? Okay...not my strong suit...but if I could only grin and bear it a little while longer, right? And on and on and on.
But here's why I fell in love with this passage: verse 8. That was it. Verse 8
"For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."
See...I've been at this Christian thing long enough to know I will never be perfect at it. Tucked away in this amazing nugget of pure gold is God's reminder that it's okay that I won't. All He wants is improvement.
Will I mess up? Absolutely! Will I embarrass myself? Yes! Will I let others down by my conduct? You betcha!
But God never said that a fail in the moment would render my life useless or unfruitful. No...once again, He's reminding me that He's in this for the long haul...and I should be too.
You have to know there is so much more...right?
Verse 9 is just the humility I need when it's been awhile since I've messed up and I'm staring down my nose at the person whose dirty laundry just got aired to the world. "For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins."
Yikes.
What are the promises that result from an increase in the knowledge of Jesus and living out moral excellence, etc.? Verse 10 states that "as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble." That is wonderful. That is blessing enough. I dearly wish I would never stumble again, although I know the reality is...I will.
But verse 11 is the promise, the hope, the encouragement and the prize for which I await. Practicing these things in increasing measure as I live out His calling in me (see verse 10) is the way "the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you."
Amen!
Want to experience a little Kingdom on Earth as it is in Heaven? Then be certain of His calling and choosing you. Don't doubt it for even one nanosecond. And then...with increasing...little by little, as He equips you to do so by the power of His Holy Spirit (see verse 3) live a morally excellent, knowledge-filled, self-controlled, persevering, godly, kind and loving life.
This is how we "escape the corruption of this world" (verse 4).
This is how we partake in His divine nature.
This is how we know Jesus and see His Kingdom now!
Contained in this passage is a list that Peter says will allow us to be "partakers of the divine nature" to help us escape "the corruption that is in the world by lust." Being raised legalistically and being highly analytical and logical, lists just make sense to me. Give me a list and I can check it off, right?
So what's on this list?
Well...it says that by applying diligence, that in my faith I should supply moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. And each of these are linked one with the next. My first thought upon reading it was that Paul taught in Galatians 5:22-23 that the fruit of the Spirit begins with love. Do they contradict one another? I don't think so. Instead I choose to look at them as bookends of a sort. Everything we do and live should begin and end with love. Period.
But back to the list. I could easily get bogged down in how to help myself have more moral excellence and have known many a Christian with a long list of don'ts that apparently feel the same way.
Dieting is my supreme manifestation of self-control...but it only lasts for a time. Knowledge? Yep...love that one. Perseverance? Okay...not my strong suit...but if I could only grin and bear it a little while longer, right? And on and on and on.
But here's why I fell in love with this passage: verse 8. That was it. Verse 8
"For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."
See...I've been at this Christian thing long enough to know I will never be perfect at it. Tucked away in this amazing nugget of pure gold is God's reminder that it's okay that I won't. All He wants is improvement.
Will I mess up? Absolutely! Will I embarrass myself? Yes! Will I let others down by my conduct? You betcha!
But God never said that a fail in the moment would render my life useless or unfruitful. No...once again, He's reminding me that He's in this for the long haul...and I should be too.
You have to know there is so much more...right?
Verse 9 is just the humility I need when it's been awhile since I've messed up and I'm staring down my nose at the person whose dirty laundry just got aired to the world. "For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins."
Yikes.
What are the promises that result from an increase in the knowledge of Jesus and living out moral excellence, etc.? Verse 10 states that "as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble." That is wonderful. That is blessing enough. I dearly wish I would never stumble again, although I know the reality is...I will.
But verse 11 is the promise, the hope, the encouragement and the prize for which I await. Practicing these things in increasing measure as I live out His calling in me (see verse 10) is the way "the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you."
Amen!
Want to experience a little Kingdom on Earth as it is in Heaven? Then be certain of His calling and choosing you. Don't doubt it for even one nanosecond. And then...with increasing...little by little, as He equips you to do so by the power of His Holy Spirit (see verse 3) live a morally excellent, knowledge-filled, self-controlled, persevering, godly, kind and loving life.
This is how we "escape the corruption of this world" (verse 4).
This is how we partake in His divine nature.
This is how we know Jesus and see His Kingdom now!
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