You will never fall!
Have you ever asked yourself the question,
“Will I ever turn away from Christ and give into the world?”
I remember one afternoon, flying thousands of feet above Texas soil, asking myself that question. “Would there ever be a time in my life when I would become unfaithful to Jesus?” The thought terrified me. I prayed immediately that if a time like that was coming he would just take down the plane and kill me in that moment. Then, of course, I realized that a lot of innocent people would probably die if that were to happen so I prayed a prayer which was a little less destructive to those around me.
Have you ever asked yourself a question like this?
Well there is good news! God tells us that we can be confident. If we add to our faith certain attributes we can be sure that we will never fall!
2 Peter 1: 5-10
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. 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. - NIV
Did you catch that? If you follow the Lord’s instruction you will NEVER FALL! You will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom.
Good news, you don’t have to pray that the Lord would take you now for fear you will become unfaithful later. We just need to continue adding to our faith.
How does 2 Peter 1:5-10 make you feel?
But how do you do this? It seams so easy when you say it but to put it into practice is another story. I mean the practical application.
ReplyDeleteis it prayer, study, spiritual guidance? How dose one add to our faith?
Steve Trotter
Great question Steve. I'd be interested to hear how others may answer it. From the context of 1Peter there seems to be a plan in place. We are to work on one attribute and then add to it.
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of when I started juggling. The first step is to throw one ball up in the air, over and over again. As easy as that sounds, it is important to be able to catch one ball before moving on the the second.
If one feels like they are very weak in their faith the goal may be to put that faith to the test and work it out a bit. Then after awhile try adding goodness to the mix and then knowledge and so forth.
It is this process of adding to our faith that Peter assures us will keep us effective and productive.
how would others answer Steve's question?
These attributes in 2 Peter seem to me to go together in a way that actually balance one another.
ReplyDeleteLike this: If we are going to supply our faith with moral excellence, then it's good to add knowledge in order to better understand moral excellence.
*And if we add self-control to our knowledge, it's going to be so much more effective. What good is it to know what's right if we don't exercise self control and do what's right. *Then perseverance so that we don't get so controled that we forget to move forward.
*And add godliness in the way that we persevere so we don't start thinking that "the end justifies the means".
*Then brotherly love so we don't get so "godly" that we become self-righteous.
*And finally love. I think this is talking about "tough love" because we can get so "kind" that we forget souls are at stake.
Sorry for such a long answer but this is one of my favorite scriptures for just plain practical living.