Bible League: Living His Word Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.There are many ways to characterize and summarize the way of life disciples of Jesus Christ are called to follow. At one point, Jesus himself characterized the new life in terms of fruit. He said, '"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide"' (John 15:16). In this passage, the whole point of the Christian life is characterized as a bearing of fruit, fruit that will last. In one of his letters, The Apostle Paul summarized the Christian way of life as a life of faith. He said, ". . . the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). From this perspective, the whole point of the Christian life is to take the walk of faith. In our verse for today, the Apostle Peter gives us another way to summarize and characterize the Christian way of life. It is a life that should confirm our election and call by God. The life we live as disciples, in other words, should confirm the fact that we have been truly transformed by the blood of the lamb. How does Peter believe that we can confirm our election and call? He says that we need to practice certain qualities. What qualities are they? In the previous verses he lists them. He says, "For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love" (II Peter 1:5-7). If we analyze Peter's list, we see that most of the words on the list are attempts to capture the Christian way of life as a life of moral excellence. Take "virtue" for instance. A virtuous person is one who is righteous and good in every respect. "Steadfastness" indicates a person who is firm in his resolve to follow and obey the commands of God and Jesus Christ. And a person who exhibits "love" is a person who is obedient to the greatest commandment and to the second one that is like it. Our life of faith in Jesus Christ, our fruit-bearing life, is a life that reveals we have been elected and called. Although those diligent about living it may stumble, they will never fall (Psalm 37:24). Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingEzekiel 16 Ezekiel 16 -- Unfaithful Jerusalem and God's Grace NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Hebrews 12 Hebrews 12 -- Fatherly Discipline; A Kingdom that Cannot be Shaken NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion With all these things in mind, dear brothers and sisters, stand firm and keep a strong grip on the teaching we passed on to you both in person and by letter.Insight Paul knew that the Thessalonians would face pressure from persecutions, false teachers, worldliness, and apathy to waver from the truth and to leave the faith. So he urged them to “stand firm'' and hold on to the truth they had been taught through both his letters and in person. Challenge We also may face persecution, false teachings, worldliness, and apathy. We should hold on to the truth of Christ's teachings because our lives depend on it. Never forget the reality of Christ's life and love! Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Ecclesiastes 10:9 He that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby.Oppressors may get their will of poor and needy men as easily as they can split logs of wood, but they had better mind, for it is a dangerous business, and a splinter from a tree has often killed the woodman. Jesus is persecuted in every injured saint, and he is mighty to avenge his beloved ones. Success in treading down the poor and needy is a thing to be trembled at: if there be no danger to persecutors here there will be great danger hereafter. To cleave wood is a common every-day business, and yet it has its dangers; so then, reader, there are dangers connected with your calling and daily life which it will be well for you to be aware of. We refer not to hazards by flood and field, or by disease and sudden death, but to perils of a spiritual sort. Your occupation may be as humble as log splitting, and yet the devil can tempt you in it. You may be a domestic servant, a farm laborer, or a mechanic, and you may be greatly screened from temptations to the grosser vices, and yet some secret sin may do you damage. Those who dwell at home, and mingle not with the rough world, may yet be endangered by their very seclusion. Nowhere is he safe who thinks himself so. Pride may enter a poor man's heart; avarice may reign in a cottager's bosom; uncleanness may venture into the quietest home; and anger, and envy, and malice may insinuate themselves into the most rural abode. Even in speaking a few words to a servant we may sin; a little purchase at a shop may be the first link in a chain of temptations; the mere looking out of a window may be the beginning of evil. O Lord, how exposed we are! How shall we be secured! To keep ourselves is work too hard for us: only thou thyself art able to preserve us in such a world of evils. Spread thy wings over us, and we, like little chickens, will cower down beneath thee, and feel ourselves safe! Daily Light on the Daily Path Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.Job 4:8 "According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity And those who sow trouble harvest it. Hosea 8:7 For they sow the wind And they reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; It yields no grain. Should it yield, strangers would swallow it up. Galatians 6:8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Proverbs 11:18 The wicked earns deceptive wages, But he who sows righteousness gets a true reward. Galatians 6:8-10 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. • Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. • So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith. Proverbs 11:24 There is one who scatters, and yet increases all the more, And there is one who withholds what is justly due, and yet it results only in want. Proverbs 11:25 The generous man will be prosperous, And he who waters will himself be watered. 2 Corinthians 9:6 Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. 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