The Heart of Christ
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2 Peter 1:2-11
2. May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 3. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4. by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature. 5. For this very reason make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6. and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7. and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8. For if these things are yours and abound, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9. For whoever lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. 10. Therefore, brethren, be the more zealous to confirm your call and election, for if you do this you will never fall; 11. so there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
This is one of those passages we should probably keep handy for those days we begin to feel as if we are better than others – wiser, smarter, more faith-filled, just plain better Christians and human beings. Speaking for myself, I work very hard to be a “good Christian.” I want to be a good person and do what is right and true and good according to Christ and His teachings. The problem is, I am not Christ and never will be. One of the messages I came away from the Women of Faith Conference last weekend was: we are to celebrate ourselves and each other! We are each and every one made in the image and likeness of God. I commented yesterday that I seldom think to myself, “Wow, God had a really good idea when He made _____.”
I think God wants us to do more than be kind and loving. He expects more than friendliness and generosity. We are to offer more than what is comfortable and easy, no matter how much that may be from a worldly perspective. God wants us to give back what we received from Jesus – that’s why He sent Him to earth. Oh . . . that’s a different story. On my very best day as a human being, in a spirit-filled, spirit-inspired, overflowing with gratitude and overcome with awe at my wonderful Lord and Savior – I might be able to approach the heart of Christ. How many of those days do you have? I’m thinking I don’t even need one hand to count mine.
The divine power of God through Jesus Christ has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. We don’t need any other reference point. We don’t any other research sources. We don’t need anyone or anything else to live as we were designed to live before the world entered into us. We only need Jesus. Just Jesus. And if you doubt that, try to think of a situation Jesus didn’t use to explain that truth to us. Try to think of a situation in your life that He didn’t cover while He was here with us on earth. His message: Love covers a multitude of sins. God loves us so much He has granted us eternal life with Him in heaven in spite of our own sin.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t need to hear any more! I just need to figure out how to live my life in line with the message! I just need to be sure I go to The Word and not to the World when I need to figure out how I feel about a certain topic. That may make some people feel I’m a radical or a “Jesus freak.” That’s okay by me. I am a Jesus Freak! How can one not be madly, radically, completely in love with Him and His message? I’ve quoted one of my friends before when he says, “I just think Jesus is irresistible.” And that explains his zeal when shares his faith with others. That explains his energy and his love as he goes through his day. And that explains that look that comes across his eyes when he is caught up in the Spirit as he speaks about his Savior. In that young man’s presence, one almost expects the doors to blow open from a mighty wind of the Holy Spirit entering the room.
That’s the level of faith to which I aspire. That’s the life I want to model. That’s the least we can do to honor our God and His Precious Son.
My prayer today is that you will make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. And that you remember the source of all these things.
Mary
