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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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