“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. For he who lacks these things is
shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from
his old sins. Therefore, 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 1:5-11
Peter
is speaking of “the Way”; that is, what Messiah Himself claimed and
acknowledged when Thomas did not understand Jesus’ proclamation (John 14:5-7).
Being a disciple of our Lord is not an “event” in which we claim salvation and
then go about our business as if nothing had changed. Peter reminds us
there was a profound change in that “the Way” has been revealed to us!
Discipleship, a life devoted to Messiah, is that “Way” – and it leads us to the
“entrance … into the everlasting kingdom”. These things, however, will
not “abound” if we do not devote ourselves to them.
Make
no mistake; it is no “magic spell”. The “Way” requires that we have the
will and desire to devote ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in spiritual
growth, “going on to perfection” and moving beyond the “basic principles” of
the Christian faith (Hebrews 6:1-3); not ignoring these “basic
principles” but rather growing from that solid foundation provided for
us.
It
is the “Way”. It is Messiah. It is life with certainty rather than
doubt in this world, and it is Eternal Life in the World which is to come.
Blessings,
Michael
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