July-September
We read in the previous issue of the Youth Messenger that the writer has now embarked on a different kind of race than she had done before—the Christian walk whose finish line is eternity!
Off I went, beginning a race that I thought would have been much shorter in length than it has been. I realized today as I thought about the length of the course, that it is not the same for everyone. The course is specially designed for each one individually. It is not just to test our strength and endurance, though it often does feel like it. The course is designed to change us! The course of this different kind of race is to make our character reflect that of our Creator and that doesn’t happen overnight!
My instant thought is that it should. Why shouldn’t, why couldn’t our powerful God just zap us with His power so that we think, act, and react differently to all of life’s circumstances and challenges? Well, I have had a few years to contemplate this one. I have realized that what we are, who we are, is a composite collection of genetics, upbringing, and daily choices, plus some programming from education, media, and peer pressure. If we are going to be changed, there is a process of deleting and disk defragmenting that must go on in our brain computer in order to think and act differently, to act in accordance with the character of our loving Father in heaven.
How can all of this happen? I am glad that you asked.
As in a physical race, there is a training process, a scheduled, disciplined program of exercise and temperance which are designed to produce the strongest, fittest body and mind possible for that person in that time.
So it is in the spiritual race. There is a disciplined program of exercise and temperance which are designed to change us to be more like Jesus.
Peter talks about it in the Bible. Paul speaks about it too. In fact, you will find these principles sprinkled throughout the Holy Word of God. These principles, understood and implemented, will make us strong to do wonderful things and give endurance to finish the race.
In the first chapter of 2 Peter there is the illustration known as Peter’s ladder. There are different qualities described in a step-by-step process. How important are they? Totally! Can you skip some? Absolutely not! So what are they? I am glad that you asked.
Just a note: For those who are unfamiliar with Bible reading, there is something that needs to be understood when beginning to study it. The Bible, inspired by God, written by men, uses differing terminology, illustrations, and forms to be able to convey spiritual principles, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little. It is not like the owner’s manual for your printer or phone. You have to be in a seeking frame of mind. You need to be thinking about how it can apply to yourself, and you have to read more than one place or one sentence. The following passage is called Peter’s ladder, but nowhere it mentions a ladder. It is a brief description of what the Lord desires to do in the life and the steps of how to get there. Others have termed it a ladder. Let’s read.
Verses 2–8: “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This is like a recipe. First we see that God gives us grace, which is His power, and peace through a knowledge of Him and of Jesus Christ. He promises to give us of His divine power to live godly, and He does this through His promises. His promises are not like our promises to one another. First, He always means what He says. Second, He has the power to fulfill them. Third, there is actual power in the promise itself. If we will believe what He has told us, there is spiritual power to be changed by it.
So, the ladder is:
1. Know God—not know about Him, but know Him, accept Him, ask Him to be your Lord, to dwell in your heart, to live in your life. Believe His promises which are sprinkled abundantly all throughout the Bible.
2. Have diligence to do His will in your life, having faith in Jesus and His power to help you. Virtue received from Him to be worked out in your life is another term for goodness.
3. Knowledge of God, His character, His will, His love.
4. Temperance is being moderate in good things, and abstaining from anything harmful, anything that would hinder the race.
5. Patience is another word for endurance. You know the kind of endurance that you need when you want to stop running, stop trying, stop working, stop being fought against. It means to keep going on!
6. Godliness is to be like Jesus in how you think and act towards others and yourself. It is reflecting His plan in your own life.
7. Brotherly kindness is being nice, being close, heartwarming, and caring to others.
8. Charity goes beyond brotherly kindness. It is loving people no matter how they are and what they have done. This takes the power of God in our hearts and lives!
If we will have these things, we will bear the fruit that Jesus wants us to bear in the life. We will reflect His character in our own life. This takes discipline, effort, trust, faith, and self-denial, not self-exaltation. This is a different kind of race.
When it is in your heart and in my heart to serve the Lord, when we have said and meant that we want to give the whole life to His control, the race begins. Mine began in my twenties. At that time I was married and had one child, but I was just a baby in my understanding of the Bible and spiritual things. But I knew one thing. I wanted to live for the Lord. I didn’t understand how, I didn’t understand the challenges that would come, I didn’t even understand the goal or the prize, but I did understand that He had filled my heart with peace and joy and purpose. Life was worth living and living well.
I began to be hungry. Not for food, but for learning more of what my Creator wanted to teach me. I went to the “Owner’s Manual”—the Bible, and began to read and read and read. Much of it didn’t make much sense to me at the time. But as I continued to pray and read, bits of the puzzle of God’s Word began fitting together in my mind. I started to see a bigger picture, wherein the smaller details fit.
I knew that each day I needed to, I wanted to, ask the Lord to direct my steps and my understanding. Did I make mistakes? Yes! Did I stay there? No! The Lord gives us inspiration and power to get back up on our feet and to move forward.
Did all my friends and family do the same? Absolutely not!
My husband didn’t seem to understand, but neither did he try to stop me. My children were young and willing to follow mom. My neighbors thought it was a little strange to see the changes I was making. My extended family reacted strongly. To them this was too strange, too fanatical, too different. They were uncomfortable and made it known to me and to anyone who knew me. This was one of my early opportunities to exercise trust and faith. I needed to know what the Lord was asking of me, and I needed His strength to go forward in the race, without buckling under the pressure of others to give in, to give up and just go back to conforming to what others thought I should do and be.
God promises to give us of His divine power to live godly, and He does this through His promises.
I began to be hungry. Not for food, but for learning more of what my Creator wanted to teach me.