As children of God our walk of faith starts with our spiritual birth by FAITH in the completed work of our Lord Jesus on the cross. Our faith is strengthened as we look back to God’s work in our lives and in history, as He revealed Himself as the faithful One, who keeps His promises.
At the same time, we look forward to the glorious future He promised – this HOPE is an anchor for the soul, lifting us above the trials and temptations, the joys and sorrows of the present, drawing us forward when we are tempted to give up or turn aside. But the secret of victory over our own weakness and the pressures we face TODAY, is walking in LOVE.
John is sometimes called the beloved disciple, or the apostle of love. In his first letter he writes: “I know God loves me and I have put my trust in His love”. (1 John 4:16) Being loved and being able to trust the One who loves us to never fail us, is the foundation of a fruitful and victorious life.
Peter wrote – “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 marvellous glory and excellence (2 Pet. 1:3).
We already have everything we need for living a godly life. We received and still receive it by coming to know God, who called us, and still calls us to himself.
Peter continued to explain the secret of living a godly life. – “In view of all this, make every effort to 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 (2 Pet. 1:5-8).
God gave us all we need to live victoriously day by day. What remains is for us to “make every effort to respond, to supplement our faith with…” and Peter presents a program for spiritual growth. He starts with FAITH – for by faith we were saved, and we are being saved daily, and we shall be finally and completely saved on the day we meet Christ face to face.
With faith, we need to focus on MORAL EXCELLENCE – clearly discerning right from wrong and removing all unrighteousness from our lives. Having cleared out unrighteousness from our lives, we need to focus on KNOWLEDGE – getting to know our heavenly Father, His character, His will and His ways, as well as my own nature and God’s Holy Spirit, who lives in me, who teaches and guides me, and intercedes through me.
Then comes the time for learning SELF-CONTROL – subjecting my body, mind, will and emotions to the Lordship of Jesus, learning submission and humility to become a useful tool in God’s hand.
Having gained freedom from the tyranny of the old nature, I need to learn PATIENT ENDURANCE until the peace of God guards my heart and my mind, because I have learned to present all my concerns to my God in prayer, trusting Him to deal with the situations I face day by day.
Up to this stage, my focus was myself and my walk with my loving heavenly Father. My life was sustained by His love and care for me. Now I am ready to learn to live love – first LOVE FOR THE BRETHREN, (Believers) then LOVE FOR EVERYONE. We now learn that our own love is unequal to the task. Human love cannot and will never be able to love totally as God wants us to love. Human love can be defined thus – we love because we feel our love must be earned or deserved. Our love is fickle and comes and goes like the wind. Our love is blind and falls short on commitment.
But God loves us, no matter what transpires in our lives. God loves us because of what and Who He is. His love is constant and everlasting. God commits Himself to love us to the uttermost!
Father God, we praise and thank You that when we fall on our knees to confess our failures to love You and others as we should, we discover the truth of Romans 5:5 which tells us that You have poured out Your loveinto our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom You have given to us. Thank you so much for lavishing Your love upon us. Please teach us to love You and others more dearly and more clearly day by day. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen
Elzeth Malherbe