2 PETER 1:5-11

FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2007

ST. PETER OR OnSTAR – WHO GIVES THE BEST DIRECTIONS?

5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1:5-11 (NKJV)

I am fascinated by OnStar and similar navigational systems in our cars today. I do not have such a system in my car, but have heard wonderful things about it from friends. It amazes me that you can be driving, ask for directions and receive voice commands to get you to your destination. That amazement leads me to ask myself, how can I trust someone that I do not know, that I cannot see, to give me the correct directions? All I would hear is a voice coming out of a speaker system.

That question is the very same question that people ask concerning their spiritual journey. How can I trust someone who I don’t know, who I can’t see, and who wrote or spoke words so many years ago?

Unfortunately, we always take the easy way without questioning if it is the best way. OnStar directions get us to where we are going, and we tell others how great it is. Advertisements give us directions to look younger, get instant cash for what we want NOW, and we tell others how great it is. The flamboyant lifestyles of the rich and famous show us the “good” times and we tell others how great it is.

What happens when there is an accident ahead that closes the road and OnStar does not yet know about it? What happens when we go after the things we want NOW and have not been told of the dangerous financial traps to avoid? What happens when the “good” times go bad? In all of these cases, we can survive but our goals will be delayed, maybe have to be changed, and it will be a struggle as many have discovered. Maybe you have already discovered this.

Now consider St. Peter’s directions, “add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.”

As in anything else, you begin right where you are. Some people are not able to follow the directions because they try to begin someplace else, in this case, with a faith that might be either weaker or stronger than they think it is. Have you ever considered how strong or weak your faith is?

From your faith, you are led by the Holy Spirit to live a life of virtue -- that is, to live in the divine promises of God and to seek to live the moral life that He would have us live.

From virtue to seek knowledge -- In this case, I see this as seeking the knowledge to know and understand what is right and what is wrong. This is as imperative today as it always has been. The Gay Rights, Abortion and War issues have people on both sides saying that their opinion is what God says. God does not have two opinions--only ONE–-and therefore He cannot support both sides. If we are to live that life of virtue, we must dig deep into the Study of His Word, We must rely heavily on the Holy Spirit to gain the knowledge of what God says is right or wrong. Our opinions do not count, and the only knowledge that counts is that which we gain by yielding our own biases and saying that God’s way, not my way, is the only way.

Knowledge, then, leads to self control – We all know how hard it is to have self control.  If things don’t go our way, we often want to lash out. This is why there are terrorists today, as well as gangs, and even individuals who prey on others. Don’t you sometimes wonder why God is so patient with us, why He allows the world to go on rejecting Him and His Will? That is self control. Even though He wants all to be in Eternity with Him, He has the self control to allow them to choose the torments of Eternal Death in Hell.

Self control then leads us to perseverance – Here again we learn from the knowledge of the self control of God as we see what perseverance means. How many times have we seen the parent of a person, convicted of a major crime, crying and saying my child is a good child. God’s perseverance is greater than that. I am so thankful that God perseveres as I sin daily and more often than that; yet, God does not turn His back, He perseveres and calls me back to Him again, and again, more "agains" than I could ever type.

Perseverance leads to godliness -- We know this fact from life. When we discover a new food, a new form of entertainment, a new whatever, we persevere in being involved, enjoying or consuming as much as we possibly can. Soon we nearly become an expert. It follows that if we give that same perseverance to following the Holy Spirit, we take on a life that is filled with, directed by, and shows godliness.

Godliness then leads to brotherly kindness – for we know that God is kind and just to us. Kindness is not only response to disasters, but it can simply be good manners. Kindness is befriending one another even if we don’t know them and YES, even if we don’t like them or approve of them.

Brotherly kindness then leads to love -- Kindness is not enough, it must lead to LOVE. Here again, we must be careful and go back to the knowledge part. We must know that God’s Love is unconditional. He loves us and does not demand a thing in return. The only thing He says is that if we do not love Him, we will not be with Him in Eternity.

The directions of the world may or may not get us where we want to go. We do know that we will seek different directions for what we do tomorrow. The directions that St. Peter gives in the letter do not change, but they must be used and followed every day. He tells the people they will not stumble when they follow these directions and what good news that is. I know that there will be times when my life will not be a life of virtue, when I won’t persevere, when I will substitute my opinions instead of seeking the knowledge that God wants me to have, when I will want my Ways to be God’s ways, instead of seeking to have God’s ways be my ways.

The directions of OnStar may get me here and there. I want to go farther than that. I want to go where no highway will take me. I want to go to Eternity with God and only the directions given by God, through St. Peter will get me there.

WE PRAY:

Lead us, O Father, in the paths of right:
Blindly we stumble when we walk alone,
Involved in shadows of a darksome night;
Only with Thee we journey safely on. Amen

LEAD US O FATHER from cyberhymnal.org

A SUGGESTION FOR LIVING THE DEVOTION

Just ask yourself if you think your faith is strong enough. If you say, NO, then begin to follow St. Peter’s directions TODAY. Please don’t wait for tomorrow.