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Friday, February
22, 2008
In It for the Long Haul
2 Peter 1:5-10 And beside this, giving
all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; (6) And
to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience
godliness; (7) And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly
kindness charity. (8) For if these things be in you, and abound, they make
you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our
Lord Jesus Christ. (9) But he that lacketh these things is blind, and
cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old
sins. (10) Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your
calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
(KJV)
Have you made your calling and election
sure today? Do you truly know where you stand with our Father and the fact
that you are in good standing with Him according to His word? Like with
marriage, many of them fall apart because of a lack of communication, the
love that was once there grows cold and one of the members may start
looking elsewhere to fill the void. Your commitment with the Lord is based
on a love and trust relationship. We love our Lord because He first loved
us and sent His Son to lay down His life so that we could inherit eternal
life. You learn to trust in that love you have for the Lord. And the more
you seek Him through His word and prayer, the more He reveals Himself to
you in a personal loving manner. As we see in the above verses the
wonderful virtues of our Lord are a part of His divine nature in which we
are also partakers. Once again we see the word charity in verse 7, which is
the same as love. Those that lack in any of these areas are blinded by
their carnal understanding, forgetting that they were purged from their
life of sin by the grace of God and not by their own works. For one to
continue in the Lord and endure to the end they need to take the time on a
daily basis to communicate with our Lord so that they can keep their
calling intact and secure.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Charity suffereth
long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not
puffed up, (5) Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not
easily provoked, thinketh no evil; (6) Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but
rejoiceth in the truth; (7) Beareth all things, believeth all things,
hopeth all things, endureth all things. (8) Charity never faileth: but
whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues,
they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. (KJV)
I have failed in many things in my own
life because it was not based on the love of God but rather my own self
serving desires of the flesh. I have found that of all the things I have
tried and all the things that I had started and didn’t finish were because
I would lose interest and not be content. The only thing that has ever
worked for me, the only foundation that is able to withstand all the storms
of this life, is Jesus Christ and His love that I have allowed to be shed
abroad in my heart. Many people claim virtues based on their own works and
claim to be fine upstanding people because their own abilities and beliefs.
I have found for myself the love of God and His virtues, partaking of His
divine nature to be the only thing that allows me to finish what the Lord
has started within me. I am not a long suffering person on my own, and
having grown up in this fallen world, I many times would vaunt myself up
especially in my mind though in reality I was nothing more than a legend in
my own mind. Patience is a virtue I didn’t like waiting around for. So if I
didn’t get what I wanted in the time frame I thought it should be
delivered, then I would become easily provoked to think evil. However, only
by coming to a knowledge of the truth and love of God, it’s only by His
abilities and strength that I can bear up under all things, believe all
things, which now includes those of the spiritual realm, hope all things as
well, I now have Christ in me the only hope of glory. I can do all things
through Christ which gives me the ability to endure to the end; receiving
the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls. There are lot people that
have come and gone claiming to have known God and spoken on His behalf, but
it’s only those that truly know the love of God and are motivated purely
for that reason who will endure to the end; and that love will never fail
them or forsake them either.
Galatians 5:5-6 For we through the Spirit
wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. (6) For in Jesus Christ
neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith
which worketh by love. (KJV)
Without faith it is impossible to please
God, a belief in God which only works by a love for Him. Without the love
of God motivating us, many do believe in God but won’t walk by faith unless
there is something in it for them, something that builds them up and makes
them look good rather than being a servant and building up others. It’s not
the hearers of the word of God that are justified by our Lord, it’s the
doers as well that will be justified in His sight. A true servant of the
Lord is motivated by the love of God; which no love is greater than for us
to lay down our lives for our brethren. So what are your true motives for
serving the Lord and how sure is your calling right now? Is it based on
‘what have you done for me lately Lord’, or is it ‘what can I do today Lord
that would be pleasing in your sight’?
1 Timothy 6:10-11 For the love of money
is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred
from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (11) But
thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. (KJV)
There are those that have placed the love
of money above their love for God and in the end fall short. Many think and
preach that money is the answer to all their problems in life, and the more
money they have the more they have been blessed of God. It’s this deception
that keeps many from experiencing the true love of God, replacing it with
some cheap imitation of man. When you get hit with these silly money
pitches and hundredfold return promises head for the door, put your hand to
the plow and don’t bother looking back. Flee these things and establish a
firm foundation in Christ which is based on a true love for our Lord by
faith, with some patience and meekness for added measure. So many people
have gone off the deep end and are drowning in destruction and despair with
many sorrows that are attached to these money seeking doctrines. So before
you jump in head first make sure the pool is full of living waters and not
a mirage.
Mark 12:29-31 And Jesus answered him, The
first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one
Lord: (30) And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this
is the first commandment. (31) And the second is like, namely this, Thou
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment
greater than these. (KJV)
As a former long haul truck driver I
would need a good vehicle that was well maintained to get me from one side
of the country and back again. I have found in my Christian walk that the
only thing that will sustain me and keep me on the path of life is the love
of God which I have allowed to be shed abroad in my heart. Without this
love and trust, like with many things I have begun and didn’t finish, I
would not have been able to make it this far nor would I have any thought
of enduring to the end. Remember it’s not just those that begin the race
that receive the prize, it’s only those that endure to the end and are in
it for the long haul that will receive the reward of inheritance. And it’s
only those that are able to experience personally for themselves the love
of God that will not be detoured from achieving this goal.
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