DGen Lesson: Adding and Increasing [Part 3]

[…continued from this post; part three of this series…]


...and to self-control, perseverance;...
+ Perseverance – related to endurance, patience and long-suffering – comes after one learns (and continuously receives grace) to exercise restraint in several, if not all areas of life. That should be the case because it takes a lot of discipline to endure hardship, continue in the midst of trials, and move forward when everything in life pounces on you and screams at you to quit.

Perseverance entails consistency, constancy and commitment. All other characteristics in Peter’s list will amount to nothing if perseverance is not combined with faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. This ingredient is important in the recipe of making every effort to grow. All will become useless if we lose perseverance and give up pursuing God.

...and to perseverance, godliness;...
+ Josiah pointed out that the addition of godliness in Peter’s list serves as a goal, an end that the character of perseverance aims for. We need to persevere toward godliness. But I added that we also need godliness in order to persevere… toward godliness [yes. It is paradoxical but I believe that’s how it works].

The pursuit of godliness in our lives gives us focus on what is really important – knowing God and being conformed to the image of His Son. Godliness is the vertical component of our life, relating to God, spirit to spirit.

...and to godliness, brotherly kindness;...
+ Of course, loving God should not just be manifested in our personal relationship with Him. Peter puts brotherly kindness in the mix so that the overflow of our love relationship with the Father is evidenced by our love for our fellow man. Brotherly kindness – when we relate to those around us the way the Lord would have us do – is the horizontal component of our life.

In the same way that godliness should not be a stand-alone character in a Christian, brotherly kindness should not be a separate trait in those who profess to follow Christ. Living totally for the Lord without the benefit of receiving and giving love to others would be incomplete if we don’t live for others and love others out of our love for God.

I found it funny, nay amusing, that on one of my one-on-one sessions a particular Famoso Guerrero was caught speechless, rather tight-lipped, when we discussed this part of the passage. In fact, his silence said more than what little he spoke at the time. But I continued to tell him that brotherly love should not be limited to those who are biologically connected to us (our siblings) but also to rest of mankind, who are our brothers and sisters in God's huge family.

Perhaps Guerrero was getting some insights from the Lord at that time about a particular brotherly (or sisterly???) relationship. I'll never know. He wouldn't tell me... even to this day.


… to be continued …