Also…add to your faith… —2
Peter 1:5
{CHAMBERS} “In the matter of drudgery. Peter said in this passage
that we have become “partakers of the divine nature” and that we should now be
“giving all diligence,” concentrating on forming godly habits (2 Peter 1:4-5).
We are to “add” to our lives all that character means. No one is born either naturally or supernaturally with character; it
must be developed. Nor are we born
with habits— we have to form godly habits on the basis of the new life God has
placed within us. We are not meant to be seen as God’s perfect,
bright-shining examples, but to be seen as the everyday essence of ordinary
life exhibiting the miracle of His grace. […] It is difficult for us to do the
“adding” that Peter mentioned here. We
say we do not expect God to take us to heaven on flowery beds of ease, and yet
we act as if we do! I must realize that my obedience even in the smallest
detail of life has all of the omnipotent power of the grace of God behind it. If I will do my duty, not for duty’s sake
but because I believe God is engineering my circumstances, then at the very
point of my obedience all of the magnificent grace of God is mine through the
glorious atonement by the Cross of Christ.
{ELGIN} Do you see yourself
as a partaker of the “divine nature”.
That on the day .. the hour .. the minute .. the second … the moment in
time when you were born again by the Spirit of God … that forever more you have
a spark of the Divine Nature of God in you? Isn’t that remarkable? And yet .. for something so supernatural ..
so amazing … so incomprehensible … it is all too often disregarded … our
salvation becomes something that happened to us not something that is happening
even today and will continue into infinity.
Wow! Why do you think that so many treat that amazing truth like it is a
dirty t-shirt lying on the floor in their closet? (Ephesians
1:13-14) “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message
of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in
him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our
inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the
praise of his glory.” Do you see that?
We are God’s possession .. we must stop acting like the willful children
that we are and submit to the will of the Father. We are sealed – marked – with
the Spirit as a deposit – a guarantee –
like earnest money you pay when you commit to buying an house. God has committed to us that our home is in
heaven because of our faith in His Son.
I want to encourage you to think about that this morning. Think about the “So What”. So if all that is true – what does that mean
for the way I am to live my life before I get to heaven? You can’t do that on your own. It takes the power of God and
self-denial. (Mark 8:34-35) “Then he [Jesus] called the crowd to him along with
his disciples and said: “Whoever wants
to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For
whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for
me and for the gospel will save it.”
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