2 Peter 1:3-11

Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust. So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books. So, friends, confirm God’s invitation to you, his choice of you. Don’t put it off; do it now. Do this, and you’ll have your life on a firm footing, the streets paved and the way wide open into the eternal kingdom of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. (The Message)^[1]

It is easy to compromise and accommodate with the world. It happens almost without knowing and certainly without intention. What is the problem? Peter addresses the same issue in this second letter. First, he says, build diligently on what we have been given. What has been given? Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God. Second, compliment your faith. The word ‘compliment’ means literally: “to provide something in addition to what already exists.” Add o your faith: Good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. Third, confirm God’s choice of you. Its just like anything else in life, when you have been promoted or elevated you have to confirm that the promotion or the elevation was warranted. Fourth, don’t put it off; do it now! With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus . . . Do this, and you’ll have your life on a firm footing, the streets paved and the way wide open into the eternal kingdom of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

There is no time to delay. The situation in which we find ourselves is critical. The forces of darkness are on a roll. They sense they have the body of Christ on their heels. They are emboldened by their string of successes and are even right now boldly advancing their agenda. There is no time to feel sorry for ourselves. There is no time to delay while we try and get it together. We have to do it now!

Dear Lord, You called us to be salt and light but we have allowed the immorality of this age to sway and seduce us, so much so that there is often little appreciable difference between the world at-large and the Church. We, Your people, look the same, walk the same, talk the same and value the same things as the world. You called us to be people of faith but we place more trust in what  we can see and touch, in what we can prove. Forgive us, O God, and enable us to mature in our knowledge of You and not delay in Jesus’ name. Amen.

^[1] Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), 2 Pe 1:3–11.