II Peter 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. 8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. 10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
The successful Christian life is one in which victories are gained and growth is achieved incrementally. We decide the size of those increments.
II Cor 5:17 states that: ...if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Being placed into Christ is instantaneous, but growth is not. Growth is incremental. We become new creatures when we are born again into the family of God. But the things that "are become new" take time.
There are so many factors involved in our growth: perception, denial of self, increase of faith, learning the ways of God, dependence upon God, the filling of the Holy Spirit, a bold witness, the grace of giving, service to God and others, etc.
We do know that good, healthy growth cannot occur if we are not committed to the process. "Flash in the pan" Christianity will never cut it. We must be in it for the long haul or we will surely fall as we are warned in II Pet. 1:10, "Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:"
The due diligence which will ensure our godly growth and carry us through to strength and completion involves an evolving process which Peter lists in this passage. We master a character trait and then add to it the next one.
The List:
*Faith (by which we are saved!) plus…
*Virtue (true living) plus…
*Knowledge (of God's ways) plus…
*Temperance (control those fleshly passions) plus…
*Patience (with the process) plus…
*Godliness (becoming more like Him) plus…
*Brotherly kindness (following the golden rule) plus…
*Charity (love in action)
Mastery of these virtues will cause us to abound in our growth and be fruitful in our knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Without the maturation of these traits in our Christian lives, we become short-sighted and forgetful. (verse 9) The short-sightedness blinds us of the finish line, where Jesus awaits us with our welcome,"Well done, thou good and faithful servant." The forgetfulness is of our initiation, salvation from the filth of sin and the world to a new life in Christ.
If we can keep a good perspective of where we came from and where we are headed, we can be patient with, and even enjoy our growth process.
The key word, mentioned twice in this short passage, is diligence. The journey calls for commitment, purpose, determination, faithfulness and application. Are you up for it?
Enjoy your journey!
1 comment:
Very good reminders, Pastor. They say if you aren't growing, you're dead. That's about right too.
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