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Scripture for the day: 2 Peter 1:5-9 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.
Thought for the day: “For this very reason;” what reason? We are to do these things Peter lists because “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (v.3) So, since He’s already given us everything we need to fulfill His calling to holiness in our lives, we are to develop those things daily as we strive to become a bit more like Him at every encounter.
I will be starting a regimen of physical therapy today, designed to help me recuperate from rotator cuff surgery I had a month ago. I’m looking forward to it because each exercise is designed to help in my recovery. I’m not looking forward to it because I know from experience that the process will be painful, often very painful. I’m looking forward to the physical therapy because I’ve not been able to really exercise for well over a month and have regained far too much of the weight that came off following open heart surgery a year ago. You know, with all the medical advancements that have been made over the past 100 years or so, wouldn’t you think someone would have come up with a painless way to recuperate or lose weight? Really, there must be an easier way. Despite countless ads promising exactly that, the truth is, there has never been invented a painless way to progress.
Look again at today’s scripture. We could expound for hours on each one of the ingredients he provides for our spiritual well-being (and that may be a valuable exercise in itself, some time in the future). For the time being though, let’s look at these things very briefly. We’re admonished by Peter to build on the foundation of our faith with virtue. Webster defines virtue as “conformity to a standard of right; morality.” We’re told that patience is a virtue and that virtue is its own reward. “Add to this,” says Peter, “knowledge of the things of God.” We are to build ourselves up by the exercise of self-control in the worst of situations. Next comes perseverance, understanding that not all challenges will be resolved according to our timetable. With perseverance we can hope to add godliness to the way we live our lives. Almost as an automatic next step, we add brotherly kindness to our exercise routine. All these work together, bringing us to the place where we can look at others, no matter the circumstances and react with the love of Christ. When we’ve added all these elements to our spiritual exercise program we can love as Jesus loved, but only when these things have become a part of our regular Christian life.
In the same way that physical therapy, or a weight-loss regimen, or a getting in shape just because I’ve let myself go, is dependent on hard work, determination, and a willingness to endure the disagreeable, so is spiritual fitness. Witness the greatest of the heroes of the Old Testament. Moses spent 40 years in the desert and another 40 leading people who didn’t really want to follow. David hid from Saul time after time to avoid being killed. Daniel spent the night with hungry lions. The three Hebrew children were thrown alive into a fiery furnace. Jeremiah was thrown into a pit full of mud and waste and fed bread and water because he dared speak against those in power. The list could go on and on and we could add names from the New Testament and throughout Church history. What made these people so useful to God? They were willing to endure the disagreeable in order to not only remain faithful, but to use those trials they faced to glorify God and draw closer to Him.
I don’t know what all of you may be facing today but I know this; if you will endure faithfully, seeking His glory and His presence, the Lord will use whatever you face to draw you closer to Him and to make you fruitful in His service. That’s a promise.
Now go take on your world. - Bill