Godliness: Perseverance
Monday, December 18, 2023
Living Free Every Day®
A ministry of LivingFree.org
Today's Scripture
"By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence."
2 Peter 1:3 NLT; suggested reading 2 Peter 1:3-11
Thoughts for Today
How can we, who are far from perfect, live godly lives? Simple. We can't. Not on our own. Today's scriptures gives us the key. We can live a godly life "by his divine power."
How do we receive this power? By coming to know Jesus. By receiving him as our personal Savior and inviting him to be Lord of our life.
Peter goes on to say this:
And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. 2 Peter 1:4 NLT
He has given us great promises that enable us to "escape the world's corruption caused by human desires." Why would he do this? Because of how great we are? No. Because of his glory and excellence.
Consider this …
Next Peter explains how we should respond to God's promises.
Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:5-8 NLT
Persevere. Don't let setbacks stop you. Don't let circumstances discourage you. Patient endurance lays the pathway to growing in godliness. But we must persevere in his strength, not our own. Only then can we become all he has designed us to be . . . and accomplish all he has called us to do.
Prayer
Father, thank you for your promise that I can become more and more like Jesus. That I can conform to his image rather than the world's mold. Day by day help me grow and become more productive and useful, focused on accomplishing your purpose for my life. In Jesus' name . . .
These thoughts were drawn from … Insight Group: Discover the Path to Christian Character by Jimmy Ray Lee, D.Min. With its emphasis on developing Christian character, it is a powerful group for those who want to be sure to prevent life-controlling problems from developing in their lives, as well as for those who need to overcome a current problem.
It enhances people's understanding of themselves and others.
It helps people bond together in meaningful relationships.
It helps prepare people for more meaningful relationships in subsequent small groups like home groups and Sunday school classes.
It surfaces people for help who may otherwise never seek help.
It helps break down the segregation of people in churches, turning "those people" and "our kind of people" into just "us."
It helps prepare people to minister to others.
It serves as a powerful evangelistic tool by ministering to people's felt needs and then pointing them to Christ.
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