"3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1:3-8
For the last month or so these verses have popped up in my Bible studies, my reflection, my teaching, and in my Art. So, I have decided to write about this drawing today.
Many times in the scripture God impresses the men of God who were writing the words to use buildings and structures to describe what the the spiritual life is like. The Jews in the old testament build memorials to their walk with the Lord.
"21 And he said to the people of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 22 then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ 23 For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, 24 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.” Joshua 4:21-24
They stacked the stones in a way that they remained as a memorial to the Jordan being held back by God and their safe passage to the other side. Seems to me to be a great testimony of the power and protection of God toward His people. It showed future generations His glory and excellence.
The new testament writers and Jesus himself used building as a picture or a metaphor for how Christians are to build their lives on God and who He is.
"21 And he said to the people of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 22 then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ 23 For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, 24 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever." Luke 6:47-49
Jesus said the foundation of a house had to be firmly build on the rock. He is that rock that the house is meant to be build on. His Love and compassion for us in His death, burial and resurrection.
5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture:
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” 1 Peter 2:5-7
So Peter, in the previous letter uses the same idea of a building that we are to build on, the Cornerstone is Jesus.
Here, is my take on the focus verses 2 Peter 1:3-8, we are to build these things one after another. You can't put a new brick till you have laid the one under it. Our faith is first, our belief in Jesus as the one and only way to righteousness.
We add to that faith, virtue as we live a life that is pleasing to our God. set apart and virtuous.
To our virtue we add knowledge by studying the Bible and under other godly teachers to know who God is and what He wants for our lives.
To this knowledge we add self-control, or patience, remembering that sometimes we need to patiently wait for Gods leading instead of running ahead like a bull in a china store.
To our self-control we add perseverance, the ability to keep on keeping on. Day in a Day out living a life for God even if it is hard and we just want to give up.
To Perseverance, we add Godliness. As we learn to walk with God using the previous bricks, we should start living a godlike life. We grow as Christians and reflect Jesus in all that we are doing, or most of it.
To Godliness was add kindness, I always thought this should have been one of the first stones, but I realize the longer I walk with the Lord that I can't ever truly be kind unless I have a live sold out for Him. My compassion and kindness has only come about in my life by imitating Him.
To kindness we add brotherly love. In John's first letter he talks about the love we are to show to those around us, to the Father and Son, and to ourselves. None of this brotherly love can be shown apart from all of the other bricks that are built on this memorial, at least that is how I see it.
The last thing we add to this memorial is Love, that is the love, which should be unconditional for ever other person in the world. The love that makes us want to share God and His son with everyone we meet.
I just realized I just put love in my drawing and forgot brotherly love. We all make mistakes... Everyday I strive to build a memorial to my God that is worth of His glory and excellence. He is majestic and wonderful and deserves all the worship, honor, love, and praise that could ever be given to Him and then more and more! Let's build a memorial to Him with our lives!
Thanks you for taking time to read this post. God bless you all! Also, I don't know why blogger messes up the quotes the way it does. I try to fix it every time. I probably should stop relying on blogger and just do it myself. :)
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