SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
6/9/2012 8:10:27 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Spiritual Growth Brings Practical Results
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: 2Peter 1:8-11
Message of the verses: When we began to look at the beginning of 2nd
Peter we learned that first of all “The Christian life begins with faith, which
covered verses 1-4, and then we looked at this faith resulted in Spiritual
growth in the Christian life, and this section covered seven different
characteristics that are developed in the life of the believer as they begin to
feed upon the Word of God in order to grow.
Now in today’s Spiritual Diary we will begin to look at our spiritual
lives bringing some practical results, which will cover three evidences of true
spiritual growth.
Spiritual Growth Brings Practical Results
(2Peter 1:8-11): “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. 9 For whoever
lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that
he was cleansed from his former sins. 10
Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and
election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided
for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ.” (ESV)
“8 For if these qualities are yours and are
increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9
For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having
forgotten his purification from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent
to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice
these things, you will never stumble; 11
for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.” (NASB)
Dr. Wiersbe
writes at the beginning of this section these words: “How can the believer be certain that he is
growing spiritually? Peter gave three
evidences of true spiritual growth.”
Fruitfulness (v.8): “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.” “For as these qualities are yours and
increasingly abound in you, they will keep [you] from being idle or unfruitful
unto the (full personal) knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the
Anointed One.” (Amplified)
I have
written about bearing fruit as seen in John chapter fifteen where Jesus is
speaking to His disciples about He as the Vine and we as the branches who bear
fruit because we are attached to the vine and because we are attached to the Vine. I have also mentioned that the “sap” that
flows from the Vine to the branches is a picture of the Holy Spirit who
produces this fruit or fruitfulness through us.
Jesus tells us to abide or remain in the Vine and this goes along with
what Peter is talking about in the first few verses of his second letter. We remain in the Vine as we depend upon the
Lord Jesus Christ to produce spiritual fruit in our lives, but remaining in the
Vine does not mean that we do nothing, for we are to continue to grow in our
Christian Life by depending upon the Lord, by depending upon the Holy Spirit to
cause us to understand His Word as we study it, and memorize it, and meditate
upon it so that we will become more and more like Jesus Christ, which is the
goal of every believer. (Romans 8:29) If
we are growing in our walk with the Lord we are moving forward, but if we stop
growing we are actually moving backwards.
We must remember that when a person is born into the family of God that
they have all they need to grow up in Christ.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “These beautiful qualities of character do exist ‘within
us’ because we possess the divine nature. We must cultivate them so that they
increase and produce fruit in and through our lives.” I believe that is what Paul is speaking of
when he writes these words, “So then, my beloved, just as you have always
obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out
your salvation with fear and trembling.”
And just so you don’t get the wrong idea about what he is writing there
he goes on to say, “for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to
work for His good pleasure.”
One more
thing before we move on to the next evidence of our spiritual growth and that
is what Dr. Wiersbe writes about the word “idle” which is seen in the Amplified
version and also in the AV: “The word
translated ‘idle’ also means ‘ineffective,.’
The people who fail to grow usually fail in everything else!”
Vision (9):
“9 For he who lacks these
qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his
former sins.” (NASB) “For whoever lacks
these qualities is blind, [spiritually] shortsighted, seeing only what is near
to him; and has become oblivious [of the fact] that he was cleansed from his
old sins.”
I like the
way that the Amplified version ends this verse when it says, “and has become
oblivious [of the fact] that he was cleansed from his old sins.” I suppose that there are different reasons
why a person becomes oblivious to the fact that he was cleansed of his sins
when he became born again into the family of God. One of the reasons could be what is said earlier
in the verse and that is the people can become blind or short-sighted, perhaps
near-sighted would be a better way to put it, for a near-sighted person cannot
see far away, they can only see what is right in front of them. Jesus spoke of a church that was blind in the
book of Revelations “’Because you say, "I am rich, and have become
wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are
wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,” and then in the next
verse He gives an answer to this problem of blindness, “I advise you to buy
from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so
that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed;
and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.” Now the next verse tells believers something that
is very important to realize, “’those whom I love, I reprove and discipline;
therefore be zealous and repent.” Now
the final verse we will look at in this section is a familiar verse that is
used to help lead unbelievers to Jesus Christ, but as we follow the context of
these verses Jesus is speaking to a church, “’Behold, I stand at the door and
knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will
dine with him, and he with Me.” There are some churches in the world today
that are like the church of Laodicea, which is the church that Jesus is
speaking of in these verses and that is a great tragedy indeed.
At this
point I want to interject something that I believe is important, though may be
a bit off the subject at hand. As one
reads through the 2nd and 3rd chapters of the book of
Revelations they will find out that Jesus is speaking to seven churches, and He
has something to say good about all of the churches with the exception of two
of them, Laodicea being one of them. He
has rebukes for all of them with the exception of two of them, (some
commentators say only one). As we read
through the list of churches and see the different characteristics there are
many commentators who would say that as we go throughout church history the dominant
church in different eras follows the order in which the churches are
listed. In Hal Lindsey’s commentary on
the book of Revelations “There is a New World Coming,” he lists the dates in
history that these seven churches were dominant in and the last church, Laodicea;
he believes that this is the age that the world is in now. When one reads what Jesus said about that
church it is hard to argue his point. I
for one agree with this view and believe that the world today is racing very rapidly
towards the end as we know it.
Dr. Wiersbe
writes the following at the end of his commentary on the word “vision.” “If we forget what God has done for us, we
will not be excited to share Christ with others. Through the blood of Jesus Christ we have
been purged and forgiven! God has opened
our eyes! Let’s not forget what He has
done! Rather, let’s cultivate gratitude
in our hearts and sharpen our spiritual vision.
Life is too brief and the needs of the world too great for God’s people
to be walking around with their eyes closed!” I can
conclude with a hardy AMEN!
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I have a great desire to have my eyes open
and not be blinded or short-sighted, and to also produce fruit, but that can
only be done in the power of the Holy Spirit, and my part in all of this is to
continue to “Study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that needs not
to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” This is the verse that I have chosen to be
the theme of my Spiritual Diaries.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Continue to abide in the
vine, and part of this abiding is to do my part and study, and part of studying
is to memorize and so I have a great desire to put the verses that we have been
looking at to memory.
Memory Verses for the week:
2Peter 1:1 “1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the
righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:”
6/9/2012 10:17:11 AM
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