Building blocks
This week is on 2 Peter 1:5-9:
This week brings more wisdom from the early church fathers. In these verses, Peter lists qualities that make us better Christians. He urges us to seek these qualities, to try to cultivate them in ourselves. They are qualities that are present in the character of God himself, so they equip us to better represent him to a world that doesn't know him.
If the lessons we learn in life formed a college curriculum, these qualities Peter lists would probably be the core classes. They are the universal skills that help us in every area of life. How many of us wouldn't benefit materially from more faith, more goodness, more knowledge, more self-control, more perseverance, more godliness, more brotherly kindness, or more love? Because they're qualities of God's personality, and core to his system of values, they will help us in every area that we represent God to our world.
If God was primarily a warrior, rather than a being of pure limitless love, we would probably be exhorted to develop our physical strength, our reaction times, our anger energy, our grappling and weapons skills, our ability to deceive and to outflank our fellow men, and so on. Instead, we're warriors of love and redemption. Our training involves developing the traits Peter lists. Our bootcamp is the constant company of annoying selfish people.
I recently had an opportunity to get certified in one of my many job-related skill sets. Being able to focus on one core skill showed me how much there is to learn, even when I'm already pretty good. Looking at the skills Peter lists, I'm humbled. How much faith do I really have? What do I really know about goodness? How well would I perform in the brotherly kindness department? How well does my self-control really test out? What sort of perseverance do I have? Could I even adequately describe what 'godliness' is? What is the extent of my knowledge? And what do I really know about love? And that's just a starting point in our pursuit of God. This is Peter saying "Here are some Freshman-level courses to get you started." Ouch.
If we possess those skills and improve them, we cannot help but be effective in welcoming people into God's kingdom. Those skills will keep us from being ineffective and unproductive. If someone offered you a course that was proven to keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in an area you valued, wouldn't you spend almost anything to get it? And if we don't have those skills at all, it's clear that we're missing the point entirely.
Spend time with God to examine and improve your character. Actively practice those skills that Jesus demonstrated on earth. Be his ambassador. Seek to continually add the qualities Peter mentions, and to continually improve upon them, and you will always live effectively and usefully.
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.
This week brings more wisdom from the early church fathers. In these verses, Peter lists qualities that make us better Christians. He urges us to seek these qualities, to try to cultivate them in ourselves. They are qualities that are present in the character of God himself, so they equip us to better represent him to a world that doesn't know him.
If the lessons we learn in life formed a college curriculum, these qualities Peter lists would probably be the core classes. They are the universal skills that help us in every area of life. How many of us wouldn't benefit materially from more faith, more goodness, more knowledge, more self-control, more perseverance, more godliness, more brotherly kindness, or more love? Because they're qualities of God's personality, and core to his system of values, they will help us in every area that we represent God to our world.
If God was primarily a warrior, rather than a being of pure limitless love, we would probably be exhorted to develop our physical strength, our reaction times, our anger energy, our grappling and weapons skills, our ability to deceive and to outflank our fellow men, and so on. Instead, we're warriors of love and redemption. Our training involves developing the traits Peter lists. Our bootcamp is the constant company of annoying selfish people.
I recently had an opportunity to get certified in one of my many job-related skill sets. Being able to focus on one core skill showed me how much there is to learn, even when I'm already pretty good. Looking at the skills Peter lists, I'm humbled. How much faith do I really have? What do I really know about goodness? How well would I perform in the brotherly kindness department? How well does my self-control really test out? What sort of perseverance do I have? Could I even adequately describe what 'godliness' is? What is the extent of my knowledge? And what do I really know about love? And that's just a starting point in our pursuit of God. This is Peter saying "Here are some Freshman-level courses to get you started." Ouch.
If we possess those skills and improve them, we cannot help but be effective in welcoming people into God's kingdom. Those skills will keep us from being ineffective and unproductive. If someone offered you a course that was proven to keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in an area you valued, wouldn't you spend almost anything to get it? And if we don't have those skills at all, it's clear that we're missing the point entirely.
Spend time with God to examine and improve your character. Actively practice those skills that Jesus demonstrated on earth. Be his ambassador. Seek to continually add the qualities Peter mentions, and to continually improve upon them, and you will always live effectively and usefully.
Comments
Post a Comment