Re: Stress, worry, fear etc & the Christian

Now let's look at the next passage and bit of devotional:

2 Peter 1:5-7 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.

Quote:

You have inherited the Divine nature, says Peter (v. 4), now screw your attention down and form habits, give diligence, concentrate. “Add” means all that character means. No man is born either naturally or supernaturally with character; he has to make character. Nor are we born with habits; we have to form habits on the basis of the new life God has put into us.

Everything this devotional and the passage says, confirms what we were just talking about. Now though I'd like to take it one step further and really break down that passage to show you again that this is really something God expects of us.

The passage above starts out by saying "for this very reason" we are to do these things. What reason is that? Let's look at it in context to find out:

2 Peter 1:3-11 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.

Did you get that??? God has given us everything we need so that we can live godly lives here and now. Where do we find these things? We find it "through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness".!!! And where do we get that knowledge? Has it been magically planted in our sub consciousness? Of course not! He has given it to us in His Word! Not only that however, but this says that when we study His Word and learn it and really know it, then we can actually "participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires." In other words we are changed to be more and more like Him and enabled to live a godly life without the corruption of the evil thoughts and emotions caused by the world! An intimate full knowledge of Jesus and His Word is the source of our growth and spiritual power!

Then what does it say:

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness;

Faith is given to us by God, but once He has given that to us, He wants us to do certain things to support that faith. The word translated "add" actually means to "support" or even to "finance" something. He is telling us to put all we are and have into supporting our faith. We are not to ignore it and think that it's going to be fine left to it's own devices. Just as a plant needs water, as our bodies need food, so our faith needs certain things to support it so that it will be nourished and grow strong.

The first thing we're told to support our faith with is "goodness". The word translated "goodness" means literally moral excellency or virtue. In other words, it's not enough to just have the head knowledge of our faith, but we must also obey and live our faith.

Next we're told:

and to goodness, knowledge;

This isn't talking about worldly knowledge or intellectual pursuits. This is talking about spiritual knowledge. Now where do we get such knowledge from? Yes, again, from God's Word! This is why I say over and over again that just "reading" God's word isn't enough. We have to study it, and reflect on it, and most of all ask God to give us wisdom to understand it.

Then:

and to knowledge, self-control;

Self control! How often have we talked about that? It is by using self control that we take our thoughts captive and bring them into obedience to Christ! Now what's the main thing that we always find when we're dealing with taking our thoughts captive? It takes time, it takes practice and we can't give up. Oh Satan would just love it if we'd give up and he's going to encourage us to, so what do we need to use-the very next thing on the list:

and to self-control, perseverance;

We are told over and over in His Word to persevere. Being a Christian isn't easy, and anyone who ever said it was, didn't know what they were talking about! It requires work, self control and perseverance on our part. Thankfully we have the Lord to help us and to enable us to be victorious! Remember, we're not doing this on our own...we are using the self control and we are persevering because we are working together with God. This is a partnership. we are not alone! Not only that, but He tells us that we are "yoked together" like a team of horses would be. A yoke is a device used to link two animals together so that they will walk in step with each other. Jesus tells us that's how we are with Him when we are working on these things. But He also says that He is carrying the larger load, which is why we can be victorious!

Ok, then what do we add next:

and to perseverance, godliness;

Again, as we do these things we are being changed to be more and more like Him. We are nurturing our relationship with Him and we are becoming mature in Christ. This all leads to godliness, just as James says.

James 1:4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Next we add:

and to godliness, brotherly kindness;

This too should begin to come naturally as we've worked on things. This isn't talking about how we feel toward others, it's talking about our actions. This is more having concern for others needs. Again it's acting our our faith and being obedient to God.

Finally we're told:

and to brotherly kindness, love.

The word translated "love" here is the agape type love. We are to love others the way God loves us. We aren't to just love those who are lovable, but to love even those who aren't. This is what God did for us when He sent Jesus. For when He sent Jesus, we were still sinners, we were His enemies. But because He loved us anyway, He sent Jesus and we were saved. Now He tells us that we are to strive to love others in this same way.

Now before we all start to say how impossible this is, let's remember again that we aren't doing this alone, we're doing it in partnership with God and He will enable us to be successful. I have to tell you though that before we are successful, we must first obey. In other words, we must put forth the effort to obey Him before He makes it possible for us to succeed. Obedience always comes before understanding and before success or victory.

To end this, I'd like to have us read the rest of that passage to find out why God wants us to have these qualities in ourselves:

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. Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

I don't want to make this any longer then it already is, so we can talk about this final part tomorrow.

Read the whole study here