“…But also for this very reason, 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, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble”
2 Peter 1:1-10
What exactly are we adding on?
You will not stumble, fall or fail only on
the condition that you do ‘these’ things. This is simply how our calling and
election is made sure and it is not done unconsciously or for you. The devil
has caged a lot of people and held them bound by making them reject the gospel
that places responsibility on them. The gospel that removes responsibility from
you appears to be more enticing.
All God requires from us is faithfulness and
it is not possible to be faithful if you are not diligent or consistent.
The word ‘Add’ means to minister, to nourish,
to improve, to build upon.
If a man truly embraces the faith and is in
the faith and knows what he has embraced, it places a new demand on you. And
naturally, it will make you want to pursue moral excellence. The pursuit of one
leads to another. And since your source is the faith, you are not going for
earthly knowledge but the knowledge of the faith you have embraced. When one of
these ingredients is in place, the others naturally unfold. Whenever God
itemizes things like these, once you miss one, you’ve missed all.
“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true,
whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure,
whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any
virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy; meditate on these things” (Phil. 4:8)
From the above scripture, any time your
thoughts doesn’t align with one of the above, you’ve failed all. It is
impossible for it to be of praise to God and not be of virtue. None of these
ingredients functions in isolation. That is God’s pattern.
Add to your faith, your
faith in Christ Jesus. Who do you believe? What do you believe? You may have been in church
for years but why are you a Christian? If you are asked, have you given your
life to Christ, what does it mean? If you really gave your life to Christ, it
is Christ that will be ruling you and not you doing your own thing. When you
say you’ve given your life to Christ, it means your life is run and governed by
the principles of Christ, it also means you are no longer your own. When you
have given your life to Christ, it means Christ is the one living through you.
1 Cor. 15:1-5, Rom. 10:8
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What you
confess with your heart is what you believe with your mouth. What makes the
difference is what you believe. What you believe in your heart should be that
Jesus died, was buried, resurrected and it’s on that basis you declare Him Lord
and Saviour. You have to believe that the power that raised Jesus from the dead
is also at work in your life and because that’s what you believe, that’s what
you’ll begin to see-if you believe, you will see the glory of God. This
is the takeoff point, this is what brings salvation. There are people who have
been in Christ for years and have no clue as to why they are born again, some
were born again but later became unborn again.
Somehow, it appears we are doing God a favour
by serving Him. Your coming to church, studying/reading your bible is for your
good and not for anybody else’.
“Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we
persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in
your consciences”. 2 Cor. 5:11.
There is a terror we must escape. It is real.
God came down in a bodily form, leaving glory, laid down his life! And yet, we
do not see the seriousness of that act! The greatest thing you could ever do in
your life is to know that to be a Christian is a privilege, it is an honour and
we should live with such an attitude. This attitude will translate to every
aspect of your life.
“For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer”. 2 Cor. 5:13-16
This is the meaning of giving your life to
Christ. If you are to live for someone, you have to know the person. You will
have to know what He wants because you will be living according to His dictates
and principles. It will no longer be what you like or what your culture says.
The question is, have you given your life to
Christ? There is what to add on when there was something there already. If
you’ve given your life to Christ, then you know that for anything that concerns
your life, you are interested in what He is saying and run your life according
to Him.
If you’ve truly given your life to Christ,
you will not struggle with His principle or His structure. When you struggle
with it, it shows something is wrong with your faith. When a man gives his life
to Christ, He ‘kills’ you so He can live through you.
“But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great." Luke 6:46-49.
The difference with these
men was simply their response.
Summarily, to bridge the gap, we must make our calling and election sure but we cannot even do this when what to add to is not in place-our FAITH. Our faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ and what do we believe? He came, died, resurrected and is right now seated at the right hand of the Father. And before He left, He promised He will come back. And because we believe that process in our heart, we declare Him as Lord with our mouth, which means we have surrendered to His Lordship, we have given our lives to Him and thus, we will live for Him by His principles which are found in the scriptures.
The house that will not crumble is the house that is built on the Rock-Jesus (the one who hears His sayings and does them) and that house is you and me.
Know this: Every saying God brings to us is binding on us whether you were present when it was been taught or not.
To stay fruitful, this is the way.
Are you living for Jesus or for yourself?
If you believe in Jesus, the power of God is released on your behalf
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