July 27, 2020: SOAP #3889:  Isaiah 50-52; 2Peter 1

Scripture:  2Peter (NIV) 1:5-8   For if you possess these qualities—faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, love [qualities from verses 5-7] … 
8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But if anyone does not have them, he is short-sighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

Observation:   People who have been Christians for a year should have some growth in the above qualities.  Five years of having the Holy Spirit living inside, should show even more change.  Ten years of Bible reading will bring noticeable changes.  People who have been Christians for thirty or forty years should be about the nicest people one can know.  Everyone will know that they are Christians.    

These qualities make believers effective and productive.  These qualities make a believer’s testimony believable.  When others see these qualities in a believer’s life, they want what the believer has. 

Application:   There is no mark of completion for these qualities.  They are to always be increasing in my life.  I will never reach a place of having enough.  There will always be room for growth.   

I only know that these are increasing as I see the increasing size of the obstacles that I can overcome.  Fewer things must be done to please me.  Fewer things offend me.  I am more “other-centered” than “self-centered.”  I am a more effective servant.  I am more an encourager and less a critic.

Prayer:  Holy Spirit, I need you to continue working in me to develop these qualities.  May I never stop growing in becoming like Jesus.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!