2 Peter 1:1-11
To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours,
by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God
and of Jesus our Lord;
seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness,
through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises,
so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
Now for this very reason also,
applying all diligence,
in your faith supply moral excellence,
and in your moral excellence, knowledge,
and in your knowledge, self-control,
and in your self-control, perseverance,
and in your perseverance, godliness,
and in your godliness, brotherly kindness,
and in your brotherly kindness, love.
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.
For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted,
having forgotten his purification from his former sins.
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;
for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
will be abundantly supplied to you.
1Peter 1:24
For,
“ALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS,
AND ALL ITS GLORY LIKE THE FLOWER OF GRASS.
THE GRASS WITHERS,
AND THE FLOWER FALLS OFF,
BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER.”
And this is the word which was preached to you.
Matthew 22:37-39
And He said to him,
“ ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART,
AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’
“This is the great and foremost commandment.
The second is like it,
‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”
Why do try and we make it sound so difficult?
What we are to do is apply all diligence,
in building our faith in Jesus Christ our Lord
and in and through our faith in Him and His word
the Holy Spirit will build in us moral excellence,
and in our moral excellence, knowledge,
and in our knowledge, self-control,
and in our self-control, perseverance,
and in our perseverance, godliness,
and in our godliness, brotherly kindness,
and in our brotherly kindness, love.
Always seems to come back to love.
Living a life of love toward Father God,
Jesus Christ our Lord,
And our fellow brothers in Christ,
And to others as well.
We are to be diligently seeking a life that is made up of:
moral excellence,
knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord,
self-control,
perseverance,
godliness,
brotherly kindness,
love.
Diligence:
To steadily work at,
To earnestly seek with an energetic effort,
To be devoted to accomplishing,
To seek after with great care and effort,
To apply one’s self to accomplish the goal.
Is it truly to much for Christ Jesus to ask
that we would diligently seek to be like Him?
After He was willing to give of Him self
to be beaten beyond recension,
and then crucified on a cross,
so that we may live with Him and Father God throughout eternity?