“But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:5-8 I have read the bible many times over and I have to admit that I really do love these passages. There is something to be said for this list of characteristics. It is like a self-check that you can do to assess where you are in your walk with Jesus. You can read through these and gain so much insight to where you are in your faith and where you need to be. We all need to do that, to check ourselves. And we will do this if we are serious about our salvation, if we are serious about our love of the Cross and Jesus and if we are serious about loving God above all. As Christians we should possess goodness inside of ourselves that does not seek our own happiness, our own profit, our own validation or our own satisfaction. We should be thoughtful of others and aware of their needs. We do not go through this life alone. We are meant to share our life experiences and strengths and weaknesses with one another. We are meant to be there for one another and to allow others to be there for us. It is our pursuit of righteousness that we can know that we have made Jesus the Lord of our lives. It is in knowing what our characters should be that we learn to seek those things for ourselves, to eliminate the evil in our hearts by resisting temptations and by actively making an effort to become holy as God is holy. Our faith should be strongest in our homes. We should be a unit with our loved ones in our beliefs. Too often our homes are ones of distracted and patronizing conversations. We need to take our faith more seriously and be able to put aside the duties to our lives and instead see to the duties of our souls. We need to get our minds set on Jesus every day and not only on Sunday mornings. We need to hold tight to our truth that is found in the word of God and not allow ourselves to be swayed from working through that checklist of characteristics. We need to be able to be sure that we are working to become more Christ-like every day and not allow our faith to become stagnant. We can do more to become more faithful. Do not be lazy in your faith. Do not take it for granted and know that every minute that you give to God and Jesus is noted. He knows when you are genuine in seeking Him and you will see results in your life that will show up when you least expect it. Be loyal in your faith and know that it is worth it. Jesus loves you and wants you to be the person that you are meant to be, a true and genuine Christian with the hope of heaven resting in your heart. “For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:9-11 Love That Cross, Pastor John Collins
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 14:58:53 +0000
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