Excellence in Life

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. 2 Peter 1:2-8 

This is sort of a long passage—and the important point today is to apply diligence—to work hard at being faithful to God—to His righteousness.  We can see that there is a progression in this passage from hard work (diligence), to good morals, to knowledge, to self-control, to perseverance, to godliness, to kindness and then to love. The ultimate goal with God is always love. We can see this again in 1 Corinthians 13:13…But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13.  And God has shown the depth of His love for us in His Son, Jesus. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. John 3:16-17. So if we need to work diligently to keep ourselves focused on God and develop a relationship with Him—it is worth it to know His love, to know His Son and to have eternal life with Him. The “work” mentioned in Colossians 3:23 says it all—for the Lord, not for men…Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters…. Colossians 3:23 NIV.

Training Tip – This passage is a step-by-step guide to character development. Every child needs these qualities—diligent faith, good morals, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, kindness and love. Erik Erickson has developed stages of psychosocial development that covers these very characteristics. His view is that children develop these as they go through life, beginning with faith or trust from birth to about age two. You can check out his stages of development at Wikipedia or just by googling his name and psychosocial development. These stages progress throughout life culminating with wisdom after age 65.  I would like to think that we get wisdom along the way…before we get to 65! At any rate, this should be encouraging that you don’t need to tackle all the basic characteristics in a short time—but that your child will develop them as they grow. You will still need to actively teach and encourage your children in healthy moral and virtue training. Life goes on—but to have quality, we need to diligently and actively pursue the best. God’s best.  

Lord God, help us to seek Your will and Your way for our lives and for that of our children and grandchildren. May we not be satisfied with just growing up and growing old, but want the best—Your best—for our families. Excellence in live and love.

All scripture quoted from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) unless otherwise noted.

© 2013 by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.