"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 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. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins."
2 Peter 1: 3-9
This passage hit me really hard in my quiet time tonight. It was the first one I happened to flip open to, and I'm sure that God wanted to hit me over the head with this. Because I feel like so often, I live forgetful of the price that has been paid for my sins. And therefore, I live "ineffective and unproductive" for God. In the Greek, some synonyms for "ineffective" are unemployed, idle, lazy, careless, or useless. Other words for "unproductive" are unfruitful, fruitless, or useless. Those are harsh words. And harsher still is how accurately they often describe my spiritual life. The passage says that these things will keep me from being ineffective and unproductive in my "knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." I know that in Christ God came to earth for the sake of my salvation and suffered a painful torture and death, only to be resurrected and conquer death--all to bring me new life and reconcile me to God. I know this. But what has this changed in me? This--the greatest thing that has ever happened in the history of the world, and in my personal history--should change everything!! Nothing about the way I live, work, socialize, eat, sleep, breathe should NOT reflect the incredible magnitude of this reality!!
I have faith. That's not usually an issue for me. But goodness? Knowledge? Self-control? Perseverance? Godliness? Brotherly kindness? Love? I think I'm doing okay on a few of these qualities, but I'm nowhere near close to possessing all of them.
May I "make every effort" in pursuit of these things. May I make every effort to apply the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ to my everyday life, and to practice being productive and efficient in working for God's Kingdom.
No comments:
Post a Comment