Add to Your Faith

The apostle Peter was an expert on spiritual growth. While Jesus was living, Peter was a very zealous disciple. He was brave enough to walk on the sea towards Jesus. He confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God when many forsook the Savior. Yet Peter sometimes said the wrong thing and had a problem with pride. However, as he grew in Christ, he became more humble and was a guiding force in the early church. We, like Peter, must grow in Christ a step at a time.

In 2 Peter 1:5-11, Peter provided some guidelines for strong spiritual growth. Over the next couple of weeks, we will examine this passage in detail. If we integrate these principles into our lives, we “will never stumble” and we will assure ourselves of salvation.

The word that links these characteristics of a Christian life is “add.” The word does not connote the idea of stacking the characteristics on faith. Instead, think of an orchestra in which a few instruments play a particular theme and other instruments join in and, though playing variations of the theme, blend into a harmonious masterpiece. As we grow in Christ, we will continue to add these characteristics to our lives and each will support and enhance the other.

The theme of our growth is faith. Faith meanders through each characteristic that we add. Faith teaches us about traits we must add through the word of God (Romans 10:17). We will not know moral courage unless we know the high moral standard established in the word of God and the strength we must have in living it. Of course, knowledge comes from the word of God. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” and the Bible reveals God’s will to man. The Bible teaches us, both by command and example, the need for self-control and a persevering spirit. The Scriptures teach us to be like God in our thoughts, our lives, and in our love towards others. If we do not know God’s word, we cannot adequately add these characteristics and make them grow.

Faith also motivates us to uphold these characteristics in our lives when others ridicule them or minimize their importance. When you embody a higher moral code and desire to be godly, you will be at odds with the world of people who do not follow God’s will. Enemies may shun, mock, or persecute you. It takes great faith and trust to do the right thing when your colleagues, fellow students, neighbors, and family think your are crazy (1 Peter 4:4). However, trust in God will allow you to endure any suffering knowing you are pleasing God and will be judged faithful by Him.

Faith provides the motivation to continually improve your life and become like Jesus. By faith, you can see what you can become. By faith, you can see yourself becoming more like Christ. Faith cannot be dead but must be a catalyst for growth. If I can learn about Jesus, and hear the Scripture say, “walk as He walked,” then I must learn all that I can about how to accomplish this. We show our faith by our works by first allowing it to work in our lives to change us and transform us into something greater than what we were.

As we study the characteristics we must add to our faith, I believe it is obvious that as our faith grows stronger, these characteristics are improved and refined in our lives. If our faith grows weak, our moral courage, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love will be poor imitations of what they ought to be.

Don’t Miss The Good Things Because You’re Impatient

Proverbs 13:12: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”

I hated waiting for something that I really wanted when I was young. You can have ice cream AFTER you eat your peas. School will be out in a few weeks for summer, Winter holiday,  or Spring Break. You can play with your friends after you do your chores. You can’t open that present until your birthday or Christmas.  On and on it went. Wait for this…wait for that. It seemed like my childhood was strung together with having to wait for something I really wanted to have or do. As I got older, things didn’t change.

When we really want something but we can’t have it now, it often makes our hearts sick. We think about what we want, count the days or minutes until the waiting will be over, and maybe even whine until the desire is fulfilled. This is actually good for us (well, not the whining). Waiting for what we desire and longing for it helps us to appreciate it when the waiting is over. If we have to work to earn money to get what we desire, we value it more because of the sacrifice.

There are many good things in life that we need to wait for, some that we have to wait for. If we do not, we miss out on being able to truly enjoy the fulfilled desire. Sometimes we will settle for cheap substitutes that make us wish we would have waited for what we really wanted.

In relationships, some people settle for committing fornication with its empty pleasure and unsatisfying relationships instead of listening to God and waiting to share the physical side of love with the one they have dedicated their life to in marriage. Even married people will sometimes settle for an unsatisfying marriage instead of working to make their relationship the best it can be.

Some people will settle for the materialism of this world and the passing pleasures of sin instead of storing up their treasures in heaven and using the material things of this world to glorify God. Yes it can make the heart sick to hope for heaven and the peace it affords, but that hope can help us enjoy our life on this earth and endure any suffering our faith requires until we get to heaven.

When your desire is fulfilled, enjoy and savor it. Too many people are miserable because they keep hoping for something else and never enjoy what they have.

Christians and the Internet

“Responsibly Wielding the Internet” by Jason Hardin. Great chart and short article on the Christian’s use of social media. Rooted in the wisdom of an ancient proverb, the article provides timeless considerations for a Christian spending time online.  Read it here.

Great article on the challenge of Christ

Great article on the challenge of Christianity in a humanistic Western culture by J.D. Tant. David quotes some leading humanists on the goal to undermine the faith of students in the higher levels of the educational system. History of America’s religious roots also explored. Must read! http://ow.ly/5yhir

God Gives Me Songs in the Night

In the still of the night loneliness and sorrow can envelop us. But God gives Christians songs in the night when they seek him in their sorrow. The perspective of Psalm 42 is someone in distress. As is often the case in the Psalms, the writer trusted in God’s deliverance though he had to endure suffering at the hands of his enemies.

Though he was in sorrow, he wanted to enjoy pleasant times with the Lord again. He fondly remembered how he led the multitude in praise as they made pilgrimages to God’s house. He eagerly desired God’s company as a deer longs for the water. After a big meal neither food nor drink are appealing. When one is feeling self-satisfied, self-sufficient, and at ease he does not hunger and thirst for God—he does not need the Father. However, when one is suffering, broken down, and weary, he acutely feels the pain for God’s presence and comfort.

The psalmist did not thirst for God’s word but for God Himself. It appears that his enemies had hindered his ability to come to the house of God and worship. Just as a young couple eagerly desires one another’s company and seeks every opportunity to be with one another, so one who truly enjoys fellowship with God will hunger for opportunities to join with Him in prayer, study and worship. Though he was suffering, he could still see the kindness of God in the daytime and sing songs as darkness enveloped him in the night.

Think about this comforting theme: God gives us songs during dark times. The phrase “songs in the night” appears a few times in scriptures and indicates confidence in God in the middle of dark times.

  • Job 35:9-10 – Job’s friend, Elihu, told of the confidence of the oppressed who cry to God and receive songs in the night
  • Psalm 77:1-6 – The psalmist reflected on a time when God answered him though he had to suffer some sleepless nights; yet even in his despair he had songs in the night.
  • Psalm 149:5 encourages saints to sing loudly on their beds

When we are enduring trials or sorrows, we often lie on our beds staring at the ceiling and praying for help and answers. Though despair has driven sleep from us, God is ever near. It is often in the silence and loneliness of the darkness that we realize how much we depend upon God and that in suffering we see Him more clearly. John Michael Talbot said, “I can look back at my darkest periods and realize that these were the times when the Lord was holding me closest. But I couldn’t see his face because my face was in his breast—crying.”

In the darkness of pain and despair we can find a song of love, praise, and comfort from our God. Acts 16:20-25 records how Paul and Silas were severely beaten and cast into the depths of a Phillippian jail. It would be understandable if Paul and Silas moaned about their beating, complained to God, and wallowed in self-pity yet late into the night they were singing praises to God. They were following the example of Jesus who, before spending the night in agonizing prayer and going to the cross, sang a hymn with His apostles, Matthew 26:30.

Before the Civil War, as slaves labored in the field and endured beatings, separated families, poor living conditions, and all of the indignities associated with oppression they sang spiritual songs of praise and deliverance. It is a challenge to sing songs in the night when you are enveloped with despair and feel that your suffering is unfair.

How can we sing songs in the night?
First, we must trust in God’s love and care. God as our shepherd can comfort us even when the suffering is the valley of the shadow of death, Psalm 23:4. We can have confidence in His comforting presence for He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” Hebrews 13:5.

We must seek strength from God. Paul urged us to be strong in God’s power, Ephesians 6:10. We must not depend so much on our own strength. This is also when we need to allow others to help us bear our burdens. God is intimately concerned about us, Luke 12:6-7, and will not keep His strength from us if we request it.

We must also realize that there will be times of joy and sorrow. Times of sorrow help us appreciate the good times. The timeless wisdom of Solomon reminds us to enjoy the good days because the dark days will come, Ecclesiastes 7:14. He further reminds us, in Ecclesiastes 11:3-8, that some things are out of our control and some things are within our control. We must do what we can do and leave the rest to the wisdom of God.

God can only give His children songs in the night. Those who have rejected Him or Christians who are rebelling against Him will only have anxiety and worry for they know that God will punish them if they do not repent. To sing songs in the night, one must have peace and true peace can only come through obedience to God.