Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
Believers in Jesus Christ grow in knowing Him and in knowing God as their Father. Peace is the testimony of being one with God. Grace is the testimony of God working in our lives. Believers don’t seek to do works to be accepted by God. They know they are accepted; therefore, they work hard to live according to His plan and will in their lives. They don’t strive to be loved, being love empowers them to cheerfully endure in all things. Leaders set an example in this, and they lead others to embrace this truth.
2 Peter 1:1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Believers grow in the divine nature of God. We grow in being givers of life to our world. We don’t seek to reap benefits from God or people. We seek to embrace the benefits of God’s love for the sake of loving others. God’s promises in our lives are not merely for the sake of giving us some spiritual benefit. They are given so that we can be changed in our nature. When we are changed in our nature, we become people who bring life to our world. The life and godliness that we embrace, we find through a personal knowledge of Jesus in our lives. We are called by His glory and virtue so that we can live according to His glory and virtue in our world.
2 Peter 1:5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
It is by faith that we enter this wonderful relationship with God in Christ. We hear God in our hearts because He loves us. We hear God in our hearts because He is speaking. When we hear Him, we are internally activated and changed. We become those who do good. We give life to our world, and we do things that bring life to others. We grow in understanding a knowledge that empowers us to live for God’s will and purpose in all things. The fruit of self-control inspires us to be self-controlled. We are not people of reaction, but people of life-giving action. The working of Holy Spirit in our hearts gives us a perseverance that can overcome all things. In our overcoming we become godly in our character, nature, way, power, and authority. We become kind towards others, and our kindness produces genuine sacrificial love. The source is found in our knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not knowledge about Him, but a knowing of Him. These attributes are the testimony of believers. Leaders set an example for others in these things. Anything less proves that we are shortsighted and even blind. We lack an understanding of God’s mercy. Only a revelation of God’s mercy to us can empower us to truly understand God’s love and to live in an awe of His presence and purpose in our lives.
2 Peter 1:10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
This is the testimony of leadership and it the purpose of leaders. We answer the call of knowing God our Father and Jesus Christ His son. We answer the call of leading others into the testimony of this increasing reality of peace and grace in Christ. It is all about relationship! It is about knowing God’s love and becoming expressions of His life-giving love in and to our world.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728
