2 Peter 1:3-8
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
When Timothy was a baby, I bought him this stacking toy that is fairly popular as an early baby toy. It consists of a plastic base that will rock back and forth on a solid surface. Atop the base is a “pole”. There are five plastic rings in graduated sizes that the baby is supposed to stack on the “pole”. If the rings are stacked in the right order, everything fits…and the last ring is filled with colorful swirling beads that move as the entire toy rocks back and forth. If the rings are not stacked in the correct order, there is a problem. It took Timothy a while to figure out how the rings have to fit. But once he “got it,” he was a pro at the stacking game and really enjoyed naming the colors, stacking them appropriately…and then knocking it all over!
Sometimes I think we Christians are like the toddler with the stacking toy. Until Timothy matured enough to fully understand the concept of stacking the rings in the appropriate order, he would mix them up. And then he would be frustrated because they didn’t all fit. I think this is a good illustration of how we are in our Christian living. We sometimes try to do things out of order. We want to serve God out of faith…but we still cling to some of our old – and possibly immoral – ways. We want to live a morally upright life…but we have not fully committed to learning from fellow believers. We aren’t ready to admit that someone else might know more than we do!
We want to act with self-control…but we don’t have the tools to do this, because we were not willing to listen and learn from others. We want patience…but until we can learn to operate in self-control, this will be hard to achieve. We desire to truly be a godly disciple…but we have not yet surrendered fully to God’s will for our lives - and taken the necessary steps to fully develop in His glory and excellence. We want to love others as God loves us…but until we become more like Jesus, we cannot fully and genuinely operate in brotherly love for everyone.
Do you see how if you stack one of these “rings” in the wrong order, everything will not come together as it should? Just as the stacking rings and a plastic “pole” on a rocking base look so simple…being a Christian may appear rather straightforward at first glance. And truly, God doesn’t intend for a life in Christ to be complicated. But there is an order to Christian discipleship. Salvation may be instantaneous…but a full, rich, meaningful life in Christ Jesus takes time, effort, and a desire to grow and mature in God’s will.
If we are to be effective in sharing God’s love, grace, mercy, forgiveness and compassion with others…we have to learn to “stack the rings” in the right order. When Timothy learned to accomplish this successfully, we would clap and cheer for him…and he would squeal with delight. Imagine how God will clap and cheer as you grow and learn to walk in His will and ways. Picture the thrill of accomplishment you will experience as you discover more about Him and how to share the love and Good News of Jesus with others.
Don’t you think it’s time we spent a while “in the floor with the rings and pole” of a life in Christ …practicing and developing our “discipleship skills and abilities”? Will this be the day that you commit to building your skillset…and doing things in the proper order? Shouldn’t it?
©2014 Debbie Robus
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