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Living the Character of Christ, October 26
Be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and
blameless.
2 Peter 3:14
.
The greatest work that can be done in our world is to glorify God by living the
character of Christ.—
Testimonies for the Church 6:439
.
In the second letter addressed by Peter to those who had obtained “like precious
faith” with himself, the apostle sets forth the divine plan for the development of
Christian character. He writes:
“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” (
2
Peter 1:2-8
).
These words are full of instruction, and strike the keynote of victory. The
apostle presents before the believers the ladder of Christian progress, every step
of which represents advancement in the knowledge of God, and in the climbing of
which there is to be no standstill. Faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience,
godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity are the rounds of the ladder. We are
saved by climbing round after round, mounting step after step, to the height of
Christ’s ideal for us. Thus He is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and
sanctification, and redemption.
God has called His people to glory and virtue, and these will be manifest in
the lives of all who are truly connected with Him. Having become partakers of the
heavenly gift, they are to go on unto perfection, being “kept by the power of God
through faith” (
1 Peter 1:5
).
It is the glory of God to give His virtue to His children. He desires to see men
and women reaching the highest standard; and when by faith they lay hold of the
power of Christ, when they plead His unfailing promises, and claim them as their
own, when with an importunity that will not be denied they seek for the power of
the Holy Spirit, they will be made complete in Him.—
The Acts of the Apostles,
529, 530
.
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