The Path To True Love

Today's Three-minute Bible Study
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Title: The Path To True Love ------------------- Date: 1/19/2002
Keywords: "brotherly kindness" "godliness" "knowledge" "love" "perseverance" "self-control"
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Passage: 2 Peter 1:2-7*

2. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,

6. and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,

7. and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

Questions

1. How deep are your relationships?

 

2. Are there people you would lay down your life for?

 

3. If your day to day interactions with these people does not reflect this type of love, what do you plan to do about it?

 

Practical help

This is the last study of four coming from this wonderfully encouraging passage of Scripture in 2 Peter, written by a man who knew both spiritual failure and success. If you think that your pornography habit is more than God can tolerate, remember Peter and how he failed Jesus. But also remember that his story didn’t end there, and yours shouldn’t either. You have a wonderful promise from God that He will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5).

Yesterday we looked at faith, moral excellence and knowledge, so let’s go on to verses 6 and 7. You may wish that God would keep your hand from clicking on porn, but He won't control you against your will. Instead He wants to do a deeper work in you by changing your desires. He wants to develop "self-control" in you. At first, At first you may celebrate every successful resistance to temptation, but in time, you will find the test continues. When you begin to think that you have made progress and that it would be all right to give in once in a while to temptation, that is the time to "persevere". And with perseverance you will eventually grow a character that sees life from God’s viewpoint. You will begin to take on the character trait of "godliness". Some people actually think that godliness is a bad thing. They think that they will become prideful and look down their noses at their brothers and sisters, so Peter adds the next trait to pursue, and that is "brotherly kindness".

Put all these character qualities together in a person and you have someone who has the ability to love others in purity. This type of love is at the far end of the spectrum from the lust of pornography or the puppy love that takes and doesn’t give. This love is the by-product, or fruit, that comes from allowing God to have His way with you. It doesn’t happen overnight. This is a life-time path. But if Peter can do it, then so can you and I. Have a great day, and a great life!

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*"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."