“… For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.” 2Peter1:8-9
Reading the verse in its entirety, it lands a little harsh. Whenever my heart receives the message that way, I have to filter it through Love. God is doing everything He can to have us participate in His Divine Nature because He desperately loves us. He has already given us His Spirit (1Cor 3:16) angels to minister (Heb 1:14) and Jesus as our brother, companion, Saviour who is involved in our victory. (Rom 8:34) But my faith is mine. He won’t hijack my faith. It would cease being faith. Out of Love, He is giving me specific instruction on how to power up my faith and accomplish the role he established for me long ago. He wants me to open up my spiritual eyes and zoom out to take a long view of His Purpose. I cannot know it all and comprehend every facet and aspect of it, but that is where faith comes in. If I don’t actively participate in building up my faith, when I hit those places in my walk with Him, where faith is the only thing I have, I’ll stumble. Those 7 items listed, if I live them out, will allow me to see crazy supernatural things. Just reading them I can tell you that they will because they are all based on Love. Jesus proved it. He lived like this because He was resolute in His Love to save us. So, being reminded that I was cleansed, is not a reprimand. It is counsel to look at Jesus and review the miracles that changed hearts by His Love and Life. I want to love like Him and here is the way. It will work every time even when it is hard. My heart can be whole or ???. Even in heartbreak, He can overcome me and prevail in Love. I can’t do it without Him.