Do you have steadfastness and perseverance? Do you quit on things before you give them a full shot for success or do you hang in there? Never leave on bad terms, otherwise we do not learn the lesson of steadfastness. We don’t learn to deal with conflict well when we pick up our ball and go home (so-to-speak). In Matthew 18:21-22, Peter came to Jesus and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” That was the Lord’s way of saying: don’t give up on people, keep forgiving them. The Greek word for endurance means “to bear up under “, and the idea is to learn to handle the weight under uncomfortable situations. Work to keep yourself in the place of hope in midst of trying circumstances. Just like sin is always around to entice us down the wrong path, so is the sorrow of life. So, stay steadfast and persevere.
The Apostle Peter also includes godliness on the list. Godliness is basically all of these things together (faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, and perseverance). It paints a picture of a person’s life with God in it. Godliness comes from the Greek word “Eusebeia” (εὐσέβεια), meaning good worship, reverence, respect; piety toward God. A religious life; a careful observance of the laws of God and performance of religious duties, proceeding from love and reverence for the divine character and commands; Christian obedience in good worship.
The Apostle lists brotherly kindness. Are you kind to the brethren of Christian Believers, or are you judging them for what political party they may be associated with and voting for in the next national election? We need to be growing in brotherly affection, centered in Christ. The last thing that Peter mentions in his list is love. In John 13:35, the Lord Jesus says, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Love is the one thing that is supposed to set His disciples apart from everyone and everything else in this world. In 1 Corinthians 13:1, the Apostle Paul says that if we do everything right in life and get this one thing wrong (by not having love), then us and our life is just a bunch of noise with no tangible benefit. Love is a defining trait of an obedient life. Are you growing in love of God and other people or not?
Peter’s list begins with faith and ends with love. Faith is the beginning point of any Christian’s journey, but Christian faith always leads to love. When it comes to practicing God’s process of obedience, love stands as the highest form of subservience. When it comes to love, you are either growing or dying; there isn’t no third direction because love must be cultivated and maintained. The last item on the Apostle’s list of what it means to partake in the divine nature of Christ and experience the fullness of God’s promises is love. It is all of our jobs to self-reflect and ask ourselves: “Are we growing in love right now in this stage of our life or not?” And if we are not, then we are missing out on the most important element of the divine nature of Jesus that God wants all of us. 1 John 4:8 tells us that “he who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” And , if we are supposed to look more and more like Him each and every day, we should be growing in our love for God and others people.
The Apostle Peter talks about how God blesses us and rewards us when the qualities are present and increasing in our lives. The implication is that if these qualities are not there or not increasing, then we are living willingly blind, having forgotten how much we still need God to cleanse us from the inside out. For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Meaning, if we do these things, we’ll be welcomed into Heaven. Peter is not says that we earn our way into Heaven. He is saying that if we do these things, there will be an even more joyous welcome when we do get to Heaven. But, Peter is clearly implying that We can lose site of where we need to be with God. The Bible tells us that we cannot lose our salvation once we repent, accept the free gift of eternal life by God through the atoning redemption of Jesus Christ on the Cross and we are sealed with the Holy Spirit.
The Apostle Paul explains in Ephesians 1:13 “In Him (Jesus) you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.” And goes on in Ephesians 4:29-30 to say, “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. There are many “professions of faith” that never really took root in the first place unto salvation also. Only God sees the heart and knows. The point of this passage is God’s divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.
God has given us everything we need to succeed in this life and to thrive with our walk with Him. The proof in in our spiritual pudding. If God tested the spiritual ingredients of your life today, would it metaphorically taste like a fragrant offering to Him, or be not worth eating because everything looked good on the outside, but did not reflect the kingdom of Heaven on the inside. The evidence that we are actually going to make it into Heaven one day is what comes out of our heart and out of our life. God has given us everything we need to succeed, but it is our job to use the power that He has given us to actually become people who please God in every phase of life. Shall we succeed? The proof is in the spiritual pudding.
In Christ, Brian
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