SERVICES: SATURDAY 6PM | SUNDAY 9AM & 10:45AM. 

We Livestream at www.FaithFellowshipWeb.com/livestream, through the FFC App, and YouTube.

Avoiding Spiritual Myopia

Avoiding Spiritual Myopia

Words of Faith 3-3-2020

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2020

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL

To unsubscribe follow the directions at the end of this devotion.

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><

 

2 Peter 1:5-9

    For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; [6] and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; [7] and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. [8] 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. [9] But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

 

     Would you like to avoid a life of emptiness that is ineffective and unproductive?  Of course, you would.  Peter tells us the secret.

     First, Peter was clear that a life connected to God will be built on a foundation of faith and will have the qualities of goodness - knowledge - self-control - perseverance - godliness - brotherly kindness - and love.  If you possess these qualities in ever-increasing measure, they form a protection from emptiness in life.

     The Greek words are very interesting here.  The word translated "ineffective" means-- inactive, unemployed, or by implication lazy, useless, barren, idle, or slow. The word translated unproductive means-- literally barren or without fruit.  Wow.  Those are certainly some things to avoid.

      Let's ask a sharp-edged question: Can cultivating such spiritual qualities guarantee that you will always have a job?  Well... yes and no.  These qualities grow out of a connection with God that will always give us purpose such that we will never be inactive or unemployed by God.  Our lives will not be empty or ineffective, even if we are temporarily without a job.

      The fact is that many people are "gainfully employed" yet leading empty, inactive, useless lives.  What Peter wants us to understand is what our "job" really is.  It is in realizing that no matter what we are doing in the world in terms of "work," it is always just our worldly job. 

       A job is certainly important, and God uses employment to provide in our lives and as a tool for His Kingdom, but it is only for a time.  Our meaning and significance are not found in a worldly job.  And if for a time we do not have a job in this world, we always have a job in His Kingdom.  If we are living connected with Him, we are never unproductive or ineffective because we are listening carefully and serving Him.

       Now don't misunderstand.  I don't think that Peter was dismissing the value of gainful work that provides for our families or the frustration of not having work.  He just wants us to see a bigger picture.  The problem is that we can get spiritually myopic or "nearsighted" in our walk with God.  We can even be blinded!  Sometimes we can't see beyond the immediate frustration or annoyance that we are dealing with.  Or we cannot see beyond a temporary difficulty like being out or work, a broken car, or bills that aren't paid. We need a longer-range vision than that.

        Peter says that if we do not stay carefully connected to God in faith - goodness - knowledge - self-control - perseverance - godliness - brotherly kindness - and love, we will lose our way!  We will miss the bigger picture.  We won't see the hand of God at work in the difficulties and trials of life, and we may even take for granted the grace of God and forget about the cleansing of past sins.

       So how do we guard our walk with God and keep our spiritual vision sharp?  We continue to learn the choreography of God.  We continue to build upon the foundation of faith.  We grow in goodness.  We gain knowledge of Him.  We learn self-control.  We gain perseverance.  We establish a deep reverence for God.  We grow in kindness and lose our harshness.  We learn to love as God loves in ever-increasing measure. This is our protection from an empty life.

 

      Father God, build my spiritual vision to razor sharpness.  Help me to see clearly the bigger picture and not just the annoyances that are right in front of me.  Help me to remember Your amazing grace.  Build in me the qualities that will protect my walk with you and keep me from emptiness.  In Jesus' Name.

 

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><

SUBSCRIPTIONS - To receive the Words of Faith devotion five days a week, send an E-mail message addressed to join-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. To stop receiving Words of Faith, send an E-mail message addressed to unsubscribe-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org.  Or you can call the church office at 321-259-7200 x1.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -     

The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, and our website, and our church app, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2010 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.  

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><