5 In view of all this, make
every effort TO RESPOND to GOD’s
promises. Supplement your FAITH with
a generous provision of moral excellence,
and moral excellence with knowledge,
6 and knowledge with
self-control, and self-control with
patient endurance, and patient endurance with GODliness, 7 and GODliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love FOR EVERYONE.
8 THE more
you grow like this, the more PRODUCTIVE and USEFUL you will be in your knowledge of our LORD JESUS CHRIST. 9 But
those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting
that they have been cleansed from their old sins.
10 So, dear brothers and sisters,[c] work
hard TO PROVE that you really ARE
among those GOD has called and chosen.
DO THESE THINGS, and you will never fall away. 11 Then GOD will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our LORD
and Savior JESUS CHRIST.”
For the most part in this world things change, some things grow
big others old; in fact sometimes as we grow old we get big too. Remember when you were fifteen and probably size
4 in clothes, and as you married and have kids (got older) you went up to size
10 or more? Because things change! Your faith is one of the things that
although we don’t think too often about changes too, and it ought to get
bigger, deeper that is, as we get older. And I ask you, what grade is your
faith in? Has it grown as the years had past? Is it in elementary grades? Or
high school?
I hear people said that they have no faith whatsoever, which
is not true, for the Word says in Romans 12:3b that we ALL had been given a
measure of faith, “…in accordance with the faith God has
distributed to each of you.” Is important to understand that in addition to the
faith, God has given us EVERY needed “ingredient” for the “soup” that our live
are, to live HIS way. And this faith
will all start to “cook” (develop) as we choose to begin and develop a
relationship with Him. As we study His promises
we discover that these enable us to share His divine nature, that’s a GREAT
thing!!! Besides, this divine nature will help us to escape the corruption that
sometimes human desires bring. That’s another great thing!
When people want to develop muscles, not
only exercise their body, sometimes they add certain types of vitamins or
supplements to compliment and maximize the effect of their efforts. This models what we verse five is telling us,
for to the measure of faith that we’ve been given, we a group of supplements
that will help you live the way God had already designed for you!
Moral excellence talks about the quality of doing what is right and
avoiding what is wrong[1]
knowing what we are doing, and controlling one's emotions, desires, or actions
by one's own will to withstand hardship and stress with Godliness. Because
sometimes, and I say this as a joke, but the truth of the matter is that we get
so heated up with some situations that whoever is looking at us could clearly
say “… and JESUS had left the building”,
because of the way we are acting. But really when we mix all those ingredients with
Godliness we will treat our neighbor with brotherly affection in love, even we
that neighbor is a hard case. Altogether these will help us to become more productive
and useful as we walk thru life, and yes there will be times, several times
were you might show that Jesus had left your building, but in spite of that,
get up, confess your sin, and keep going! Try it again, and again, and again because
your character is being develop as you go down and get up, to comply with that
of Christ. As you work hard trying this go down and get up exercise you will be
proving yourself and to the world that you belong to Christ, and you will
mature, and experience a growth in your faith.
I pray these
words have enlightened your path, and help you get up to exercise more eagerly
your faith, for the glory of God who created us all. In the meantime, share your testimony with the
world that surrounds you; I’m sure there’s someone out there BEGGING to hear the
testimony from someone that had passed by the same things they’re going thru and
that The Lord got them out. These people need to know what you’ve learned
today. Be NOT afraid, and share your
testimony, for the glory of God!
Be blessed, in
Jesus name, AMEN!
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