The Test of Time

Life consists of a series of decisions. Some of those decisions are life-altering, others are less significant. But whether they relate to natural or spiritual dimensions, they all help form the quality of life and environment we enjoy.

One significant area where proper decisions need to be made is how we spend our time. We all have time in equal amounts. Although some people live more years than others, each of us has 24 hours a day, and we need to be responsible stewards of those hours. Scripture admonishes us that we're to redeem the time because the days are evil. (Eph.5:16) It also says there is nothing new under the sun, (Eccl.1:9) and although unlikely, the present time certainly seems to be more evil than past generations.

The Lord uses time to examine our love for him, as well as our obedience to his word. This test of time is perhaps the most challenging of all exercises he puts us through. It is also a test in which many of his people compromise their faith and fall back into carnality and a self-serving life.

Peter's second epistle reveals some principles that relate to the test of time and provides a glimpse into the mechanics of the test. I'll look at these in some detail as to how they relate to our faith in the promises of God.

God's Righteousness

"Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our savior Jesus Christ:" (2 Pet.1:1)

Do you consider your faith to be precious? I trust you do, because genuine faith is a rare and precious commodity. It should be something that is nurtured, guarded, and looked after with great diligence. On the overleaf in my Bible I have written, "The only real calamity in life is to lose one's faith in God." Regardless of what you might encounter in life, losing your faith in God is the only real calamity you could possibly suffer. Without faith you would be reduced to life on the natural and carnal plain, limited to your personal abilities.

Peter said his readers had obtained like precious faith with those who had known Jesus in his humanity. He also said that such precious faith comes through the righteousness of God.

If I were to ask if you believe God is righteous, you would likely acknowledge that he is. My next question then would be, how do you know that he is righteous?

If faith comes through the righteousness of God, then we must be fully persuaded that he is righteous if we're to have faith in what he says. Nehemiah 9:8 gives a principle that helps us understand this. Speaking of Abraham, Nehemiah says, "And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land... to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous."

The way we know God is righteous is because he does what he says. We can then exercise faith towards God as we recognize and acknowledge that he is righteous, and because of his righteousness, he does what he says he will do. If God changed because some new wind or whim came along, we would have no basis of faith whatsoever. But God is a God who changes not. He is absolute. Therefore, we can trust what he says and have confidence (faith) that he will perform his word. He said his word would not return to him void, but that it would always accomplish the purpose for which it was sent. (See Isa.55:11)

Something unique happened when you came to Jesus and gave your life to him. You had no prior experience with God, but through whatever means God used to make you aware of your separation from him, a commodity he had placed in you when you were born, came alive. It was the little seed of faith spoken of in Romans 12:3 - the measure of faith dealt to every person. That was not A measure of faith, but THE measure of faith.

The difference is that A measure would imply that some people could have received more initial faith than others, but if that were true, God would be a respecter of persons. He gave each person THE measure of faith, meaning that each person received a specific amount.

That specific measure of faith enabled you to believe and respond when you heard the word that God cared for you and had made a provision for your redemption. You didn't earn that ability to respond, neither did you have any prior basis upon which to believe that God would redeem you as he promised. It had been given to you as a gift. God put that gift of faith into your spirit so you could respond when he made you aware that he loved you.

Romans 10:17 says, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." This does not mean that faith initially came to you when you heard God's word, but that the gift of faith which was already in you came alive when you heard the word. It was the supernatural ability to respond to God's love without any prior experience with him. It gave you the ability to believe the word he gave that if you would repent and turn from your iniquities, he would forgive your past and cleanse you so that you could come before him as though you had never sinned.

When you responded to his word, you had an immediate sense of peace that he had done what he promised. A load lifted off your shoulders. It was as though scales had been moved from your eyes and the sky was suddenly bluer than you could remember. Flowers were more brilliant and grass was greener.

That ability to believe what God promised was a gift that started you on a journey where you began to gain a greater confidence that God would do what he promised. Along the way you began to understand God is righteous and that you could trust his word.

As you gained more experience with the Lord and you saw prayers answered, your trust in him continued to grow. Then you learned about another experience in Christ called the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Now that you had learned you could trust him and that he would fulfill his word, you could take another step of faith and believe him to bring you into that experience as well. As you continued to walk with the Lord, he put greater challenges before you to give you the opportunity to trust him in ever-increasing degrees.

What is happening through this process? You're learning you can trust his word because your confidence in the integrity of his nature is increasing. (If you don't trust the integrity of God's nature, you have no basis upon which to trust his word.) In other words, you are becoming more persuaded that regardless of what challenges come before you, God is righteous and you can trust him to fulfill his word. You are beginning to walk as Abraham walked, "being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform." (Rom.4:21)

Unfortunately, I've observed that many of God's people are leaning on the arm of flesh to fulfill what only God can do. For instance, I've seen people, who when they were new in the faith, believed God for healing when they were ill and expected deliverance from all kinds of diverse situations. But now that they've been "mature Christians" for decades, when something afflicts them, the first thing they reach for is a medicine bottle or a doctor's phone number.

I am not against doctors. If you need a doctor, go for it. But you need to understand that you're not going to come to spiritual maturity depending on your medicine bottle, or on your way to the doctor. You are in the test of time. God is waiting to see if you will continue to believe he is righteousness enough to fulfill his word. One such word is that he is able to forgive all of your iniquities and heal all your diseases. (Psa.103:3)

Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not trying to condemn you if you are under a doctor's care or in the midst of a life-threatening illness: I'm speaking spiritual principle. Isaiah 30:1-3 says: "'Woe to the rebellious children,' saith the LORD, 'that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:

"'That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.'"

When adversity in any form comes to challenge you, you need to stand and believe the righteous integrity of God's nature, being fully persuaded that he will do everything he promised - both positive and negative. He has promised blessing for obedience to his word and curses for disobedience to it. Both must be fulfilled because of the righteous integrity of his nature.

The Knowledge of God

The Apostle Peter continued, saying, "Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord." (2 Pet.1:2)

Grace and peace are multiplied as we come into a proper knowledge of the Lord. This does not mean that we just need an understanding about him, nor that we just have our theology and doctrine correct. It means we actually know both the Father and Jesus our Lord, which of itself brings an increasing measure of peace. Many people only want to deal with Jesus, but he came to reveal the Father.

"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." (vs.2)

Peter said the Lord has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. That means everything you will ever need for your natural life and spiritual life is already available to you. It is down in your spirit. All you need to do is believe it's there and draw on it so that the provision becomes part of your experience. In other words, your salvation is only as complete as you believe that it is.

If anything could be added to what Jesus did at Calvary, the atonement would not have been complete. And if his atonement had not been complete, he would not have come forth in resurrection from the dead. Nothing is needed in addition to what the Lord has already done. You just need to understand and believe what he has done, and in your redeemed spirit say, "Lord, be it unto me according to your word."

That is the reason Philippians 2:12 says to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." It doesn't say you are to work it up, because it's already in you. You don't need more of the Holy Spirit or more anointing to complete your redemption either. What you need is a greater trust in what God said so that which is already in you can come forth and be manifested through your life.

Great and Precious Promises

"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." (2 Pet.1:4)

We've been given some tremendous promises by the Lord. This word "promises" here is only used one other place in the New Testament. (2 Pet.3:13) If you combine the shades of meaning for the original word, it means "a publically declared commitment." This means God has publically committed himself to do certain things. The promises God made, whether personal or general, are given to enable us to become partakers of the divine nature, and to the degree that we become partakers of that nature, we escape the corruption of the world.

You need to understand that you are not just a poor, old sinner saved by grace. You were a sinner, but now that you've received the Lord, you have the potential and calling to be made a partaker of God's divine nature. That doesn't mean your old nature becomes more acceptable to God: It means that as you agree with God's promises, your mind becomes renewed because of that continued agreement. Consequently, you become aligned with God's perspective rather than with your own natural perspective. As you do that, your responses become more Christ-like and in harmony with the divine nature.

It needs to be understood that God cannot come into union with anything that is not totally compatible with his own divine nature. He can create something that is not compatible with his nature, but he can't come into union with it. For instance, God, who is light, created darkness, and although he is good, he also created evil and calamity. (See Isa.45:7)

God can create anything he wants to, but that doesn't mean he will come into union with it. He can only come into union and ultimately be identified with something that is perfectly compatible with his own divine and incorruptible nature. That is the reason he works with us to bring us into agreement with him and his perspective, rather than being unconcerned that we're holding on to our own finiteness.

God can only bring forth incorruptible life out of his own being. Therefore, if we want his life, we must become incorruptible in his divine nature. This is accomplished little by little, line upon line, precept by precept as we come into complete union with him, thus proving we agree that the only thing of eternal value or consequence is that which is divine and incorruptible.

The way the Lord brings us into such agreement is by giving us promises. Actually, everything God has ever given to mankind has always been given first in the seed form of a promise. As mankind responds to them, the promises work effectually in us to produce their fulfilment, whether they are for obedience or disobedience.

Every promise God gives is subjected to the test of time, otherwise, it would not be a promise. That test may be a relatively short period or it could be weeks, months, or even years. But the length of the test is not important. Time is only for our benefit. God lives in eternity, therefore, time is of no benefit to him. That is why a day with him is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as one day. (2 Pet.3:8)

Response to the Promises

The New Testament encapsulates how Israel failed their test of time, which provides much food for thought. Reflecting briefly on the obstinate heart condition of the People in the wilderness toward him, Hebrews tells us God was "grieved with that generation, and said, 'They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.'"(Heb.3:10-11)

The parallel principle for New Testament believers is given in verse 14 where we're told, "For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end." This reveals that Israel going into their Promised Land was equivalent to partaking fully of Christ. A few verses later we're told why the generation coming out of Egypt could not enter into the Land: "And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief." (Heb.3:18-19)

Notice several principles here. When Israel came out of Egypt, the time was right to possess the land promised to them, they were the right people to possess it, and God was ready to give it to them. The only thing that kept the promise from being fulfilled was their obstinate unbelief. The same thing is true for us: Unbelief is the only thing keeping the promises that are ours in Christ from being fulfilled.

Think about that. God had told Israel, "I want to give you the land I promised to Abraham. The vineyards are full, the fields are ripe, the cities are built. Go in and possess it. It's your inheritance." But when they got to the border of the land the first time, they saw a few giants and said to God, "We can't go in." The same fear and unbelief that kept Israel out of their promised inheritance will also keep you from enjoying what God promised to you in Christ.

That's the reason Hebrews 4:1-2 says: "Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it."

Israel was at the right place at the right time and God was ready to take them into their inheritance. The only thing lacking was that they did not mix faith with the word they'd been given. When a promise has been received from God, there are basically two things that can be done with it during the test of time. You can believe it and receive it, or you can doubt it and do without it!

Faith and Doubt

The first example of what can be done during the test of time between the promise being given and when it is fulfilled is found in Hebrews 6:11-12: "And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises."

If we're to become partakers of the divine nature, and everything meant by that, we'll need to exercise focused diligence to mix personal faith with what we've been promised. We won't become partakers of that nature on the merits of our parents' relationship with the Lord, the ministers we respect, our nationality, or our creed. We must be diligent to maintain personal faith in those promises until they are fulfilled.

The other option regarding the promises is found in Hebrews 2:1-3: "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him."

Notice that it says "lest at any time" we allow the promises to slip away. It doesn't matter whether you let them slip right when you first hear them, or just before the time of their fulfillment. If you neglect to give diligence to the promises God has given you, the end result is the same.

I'll define these two options so you can see what you are doing with the word you've received. Faith, by simple definition, means "to have a complete trust or confidence in something." For our purposes, the only place you can have faith is in God and what he promised.

God is holy, and as we have seen, he is righteous in that he does what he promises. Whenever you are tested, what is really on trial, is, will you continue to believe God is righteous or will you declare your own righteousness? Every time you waiver from that which God said, you are really saying that your assessment of the matter is more accurate than God's word is. Essentially you're saying, "I am more righteous than God, because I don't believe he'll actually do what he said."

Faith is the trust and confidence that come by hearing what God said, and then rests in his ability to fulfill the promise. The only reason a word from God is neglected because it is doubted. In other words, we don't actually believe God will do what he said. If we really believed that God meant what he said, we would do something with what we heard.

The reason we're passive about what God said is because we question the validity of what he said. That is, we doubt that he meant it Doubt, by definition, is a condition of uncertainty. You won't neglect something you believe in. For instance, if you believe in your geraniums, you'll not neglect them. If you believe in receiving a paycheck at the end of the week, you'll go to work on Monday. You won't neglect what you expect, but you will neglect what you question and doubt.

Because doubt is a condition of uncertainty, it does not believe God will actually do what he said. Consequently, doubt believes that we must accomplish what God said he would do. But because doubt sees our inability to do that, it lets the promise slip away through neglect, all-the-while excusing our lack of response. I assure you that you will not neglect anything you truly believe in.

That is the reason some marriages fall apart. Two people make a commitment to each other, and then over time they take each other for granted, thus neglecting their commitment to love, honor, and esteem the other. In like manner, when God calls us to a commitment to his word, our heart gets stirred and our faith responds. But then some time passes and we forget the commitment we made, and it gets neglected because of our assessment of who we are instead of who he is.

Do you know what it means to be committed? Commitment means that you will entertain no options. It means you won't leave a "back door" open for a hasty retreat if things don't work the way you think they should. God is looking for people who are as committed to him as he is to them. Those people will be careful to mix faith with every promise they receive from him.

Consider this. Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, but the whole world is not saved. Why not? Because most people don't believe that what Jesus did applies to them. Your salvation is only as effectual as you believe it to be. God said that if you will confess your sin, repent, and put your trust in the propitiation of Jesus, he will receive you as though you had never sinned.

Therefore, your deliverance from sin, both past and present, is directly commensurate with your faith in what God said about it. If you don't believe you are free from sin through the shed blood of Jesus, you will never be free from it.

Add to Your Faith

Peter said we escape the corruption of the world as we partake of the divine nature. This doesn't mean that we must wait until we get to heaven to become free from the world's corruption. Today is the day of salvation. If the Lord can't keep us from sin and corruption today, we have no basis upon which to believe that he can keep us eternally. The God we put our faith in to keep us eternally is the same God who says sin is not to dominate us today, but that we're to have dominion over it. (Rom.6:12-14) Are you exercising your dominion?

What basis is there to believe for future things if we can't experience a present foretaste? Many people have gone into doctrinal error because they don't understand this clear scriptural principle: Any true prophetic hope has a present reality as its premise. Right now is when we're to taste "the heavenly gift, the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory." (Heb 6:4-5; Eph.1:14)

Second Peter 1:5 continues: "Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence..." (NAS)

What is meant here is that we're to be filled up with faith and allow it to increase in our daily experience. If, when God gives us a promise, we carefully mix faith with it, the compound of the promise and our faith begins to cause a change in our character. The result is that moral excellence comes forth and begins to cleanse our life, which in turn brings a greater union with the word and purpose of God. As that takes place, our heart and spirit open up and we become more sensitive and alert to the things of God.

But, if during the test of time - regardless of how long that test is - we doubt and question the promise God gave us, thinking, "I don't know if God is really going to fulfill the word in me," our doubt begins to compromise the truth of the word we heard. Compromise, by definition, means that something is settled by making concessions. Therefore, we'll make excuses (concessions) about why the promise won't be fulfilled, and because of that, we'll begin to believe a lie about God's integrity.

What are the excuses based on? We reason that since God is apparently not going to fulfill his word, we need to do something to help him. And since we realize that we're helpless to do it, we must have misunderstood what he actually said. And besides, he probably didn't mean it anyway - at least not for us.

How are you doing in your test of time? Are you standing strong in faith or slipping into doubt? Doubt, by the way, is actually a form of ungodly arrogance. Is your character becoming more Christ-like, or are you making excuses for why God's promises probably don't pertain to you? If you're doing that, you are claiming your "wisdom" to be superior to God's word.

"Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in {your} moral excellence, knowledge." (2 Pet 1:5 NAS)

The knowledge that comes from moral excellence (a cleansed character) is not just mental assent. It is the knowledge of God that comes from spending time in your prayer closet and on the "back side of the desert." As moral excellence comes forth in your spirit and the contamination of sin is washed away, the true knowledge of God breaks upon your spirit and your consciousness. This gives you glimpses and an understanding into spiritual dimensions you've never seen or considered before.

But if you're already questioning and doubting whether God will fulfill his word, and if you've compromised and excused what he said, it is just a small step from there into assumption. Assumption, by definition, supposes that something is true without proof. Because of your compromised state, you assume that you are now exempt from the promise of God. Consequently, your compromised belief system causes you to think that you're also exempt from the moral requirements of his word. Both assumptions are lies and assaults on God's character.

Temperance or Indulgence

"And to knowledge" [add] "temperance." (2 Pet.1:6a)

As a true knowledge of God increases, temperance is produced. Temperance is a self-restraint in behavior and expression. This is where you allow yourself to be under the discipline of the Holy Spirit in every area of life. Temperance is knowing something is lawful to you, but you also know that it is not expedient for you at that moment. Therefore, you allow restraint to hold you. Temperance comes after you've received a revelation of the glory of God. Until then, you're only concerned with your own satisfaction, fulfillment, and glory.

However, if you are questioning whether God will fulfill his promise to you, and your doubts have made you associates with compromise and assumption, indulgence eagerly awaits your embrace. Indulgence always pleases and gratifies itself, saying, "I deserve this, I've earned it, and it's mine." Indulgence has forgotten the past and doesn't consider the future. Attempting to satisfy the desire of the moment is all that is important to its insatiable appetite.

Indulgence reasons that since God hasn't yet fulfilled his word, "Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." (Lu.12:19) I might as well eat, drink, and be merry, it assumes, because tomorrow we die. (See 2 Pet.3:4)

"And to temperance" [add] "patience" (perseverence). (2 Pet.1:6b)

Have you discovered that the more you allow the Spirit of God to bring you under his discipline, the more patient you become? Patience could be defined as "hopeful endurance." In other words, you have a hope that endures until that which you are hoping for is realized. That's what patience is. It's hope that endures to the end.

And when is the end of what is hoped for? It doesn't matter when the hope is realized - that's in God's jurisdiction. Scripture says when you have received that for which you have hoped for, you don't need hope any longer. (See Rom.8:24-25) Hopeful endurance, or patience, waits expectantly until what you're hoping for is realized. The time frame for the realization is unimportant, because time is only for our benefit. Time is irrelevant to God. The only thing that counts with him is that we maintain faith in his integrity to fulfill what he promised.

By contrast, the more that people indulge themselves, the less fulfillment their indulgence gives them, and thus they become filled with despair and hopelessness. Consequently, the next step down the carnal staircase from indulgence is hopelessness.

When patience, i.e., hopeful endurance, resides in the heart, our world view clarifies and increases. But when indulgence rules, our world view becomes confused and decreases. Therefore, instead of having an expectant hope that endures until a promise is realized, we begin to become hopeless and impatient. Hopelessness then begins to draw us into its vortex - bitterness.

When one moves into hopelessness, a seed called bitterness begins rooting. It is impossible to have hope and bitterness in a heart at the same time. Hopelessness prepares the ground of the heart for the principality of bitterness to take up residence. When bitterness takes hold of the heart, many are defiled by it as it seeks to eliminate the source of its pain. (See Heb.12:15)

Losing hope of anything ever changing in a situation, whether it's a personal relationship, or waiting for God to perform what you believe he promised, is when you really fail the test of time. In your heart you say, "God, it has been too long. I can't wait any longer for this situation to change."

If you lose hope of anything ever being different, you'll seal your own fate - a fate of sin, sickness, despair, and paralyzing unbelief. If you are finding hope is slipping away and you're experiencing hardness coming up in your heart, cry out to God for deliverance and a restoration of hope. Let go of the unforgiveness toward God, or whoever and whatever is the source of your deferred hope and pain. If possible, get with a trusted fellow believer and ask them to pray with you until that root is exposed, pulled out, and destroyed.

Such hopelessness is the reason for the unconscionable acts of rage and violence in our modern, indulgent society. Adults and young people alike have lost hope of ever finding satisfaction through their indulgence, and in their frustration, they strike out at whatever and whoever happens to cross the impatient path. Their indulgent lifestyles have caused them to become impervious to the consequences of their morally depraved actions. Immediate satisfaction and relief from their frustration are all that matter.

Godliness or Carnality

"And to patience" [add] "godliness." (2 Pet.1:6c)

As patience (enduring hope) settles into your heart, something significant happens in your mind. You'll find that anytime you don't need to concentrate on what you are doing, your thoughts automatically ascend toward God and the hope you have in him. Godliness, by simple definition, is to have a God-ward attitude. That is, your thoughts continually turn toward God, who is the object of your love and devotion. When godliness comes forth, having your thoughts go to God becomes as normal as it is for the needle of a compass to turn northward.

Your thoughts will go along the line of, "Lord, what are you saying? What is your word to me now? What about this promise I'm expecting you to fulfill? I love you, Lord." Your thoughts are filled with love toward him as you rest in the assurance of the love and concern he has for you.

Is this your experience, or do you find that because of hopelessness, your thoughts continually slip into carnality? Carnality is basically a survival mode. For a Christian, it is the condition of having at one time looked at life with spiritual eyes, but now you see life again primarily from a natural perspective. It means living by basic instincts rather than by a renewed mind and the word of the Lord. It means you are being ruled by your emotions and the senses. This results in attributing righteousness to your self rather than to God.

How can you tell if you are growing and maturing spiritually? You are growing in the Lord if the things you thought were spiritual yesterday, you look at as normal today, and a bit carnal tomorrow.

What are you doing with the promises God made to you? Are you letting them slip? Are you neglecting them? Or are you steadfastly looking to the Lord, being fully persuaded that he will fulfill what he promised?

"And to godliness" [add] "brotherly kindness." (2 Pet.1:7a)

The word translated "brotherly kindness" in this verse is the Greek word, PHILADELPHIA, which means brotherly love, or having love for the brethren. Such love is actually an act of kindness. Simplistically defined, kindness means "to supply what is needed." That might be as simple as a phone call to someone who is alone, or in a struggle. It might be giving an encouraging smile to someone, or telling someone that you love them. It might be lending a hand to a person in need. Kindness is God's love in action toward another.

As your God-ward attitude develops, you will have a greater consideration and concern for your fellow man, especially fellow believers. Kindness replaces a harshness of spirit because you've come into a trusting rest in the Lord. You are no longer threatened that you will lose anything by sharing with others, so you are free to allow love to spring into action in the form of kindness.

But if you have already compromised the truth to the point of carnality, the next step in your shrinking world view is selfish love, or an inordinate love relationship with your self. Scripture warns that in the last days men shall be lovers of themselves and pleasure more than lovers of God. (2 Tim.3:1-5)

Is this not what we're seeing in this present narcissistic generation? Everywhere is seen a generation of people who are totally in love with themselves. And unfortunately, the same attitudes are often found in the church as well.

The world view of selfish love is so small it only has room for one - you. You see yourself as being the center of the universe, therefore, all of life is expected to revolve around you and your wishes. There is no room for anyone else, and even God is seen as an encroachment on your presumed domain.

You won't have genuine love and kindness for your brethren until you are delivered from the curse of self preservation, that is, wanting to preserve and perpetuate your own life. This is because you can't love someone else while having an inordinate love affair with yourself.

The two strongest drives of self preservation are food and sex. Food sustains and preserves life today, and procreative sex preserves life tomorrow and into the next generation. Because these are two basic survival instincts of all life, the devil has relentlessly targeted them for corruption. Unfortunately, he has been quite successful.

Until we allow God to liberate us from ourselves and we become persuaded that he alone is able to keep us and fulfill his word, we'll not be released from the prison of our own selves. Consequently, bickering, fussing, fighting and factions will be our familiar companions.

Why? Because we're so much in a love with ourselves. Why are we so in love with ourselves? Because we're ignoring and neglecting the promises of God, thinking we have to steer our own course through life based on our limited abilities. And since we think we're in charge of our life, we're going to be careful to provide for our own best interests.

Divine Nature or Hostility

"And to brotherly kindness" [add] "charity." (2 Pet.1:7b)

Charity is an Old English word used for the divine love of God. It is the quality of love that loves just because it is its nature to love. It doesn't need performance to motivate it, nor is it bribed by it. And because this quality of love has no need of itself, it doesn't even need to be loved in return!

Divine love has the ability to love the unlovely as well as the lovely. It extends itself in blessing to the righteous and the unrighteous. (See Mt.5:44-48) It is not limited by race, color, or creed. It is the essence of God's own nature and the epitome of the Christian calling. (1 Tim.1:5)

However, if you have doubted and neglected God's word, moving from compromise to assumption to indulgence so that you're in love with yourself, hostility it is a very short step away. In hostility, everything that interrupts your environment and puny world view is considered an unwelcome challenge and foreboding threat.

God is the ultimate interrupter and "shaker upper" of your own little selfish environment. When you are in this state of mind, anytime the Lord wants to touch your life with a promising word, you become hostile. Because after all, you reason, he is interfering with your love affair with your self-life. In fact, you become hostile toward everyone close to you whether they're brethren, natural family, or God, because they're seen as invading your personal space for which you are responsible.

Are you adding faith to the promises God has given to you? Or are you neglecting them and allowing them to slip away during the test of time? Every faith-filled and positive response you make toward God's word is another step forward toward being made a partaker of his divine nature.

Not that you can produce that nature in yourself. You simply allow his word to bring forth what he promised the word would do. The test of time alone determines whether you will be a partaker or not.

A couple more scriptures provide a glimpse into the results of allowing or not allowing the truth of God to work its effectual work into our spirit. The first one I'll consider is Romans 5:1-5: "Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

"And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." (NAS)

Here we see that a proven character, which is the result of resting in the peace of God, produces an unashamed hope in those who are exercised through testing. Hope that is not disappointed is hope that continues to believe in the integrity of the One who gave it something to hope for. The reason such hope can continue believing is because of the love of God has been realized in the expectant heart.

Parts of Romans 1:21-28 show what happens when people don't continue in the revealed truth of God. "For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

"For even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools...

"For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions...

"And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper." (NAS)

These few verses reach all the way back to Adam and recount the downward spiral of man's sin and degradation. The downward slide was not limited to people who had never known God, but also to those who once knew him, but would not honor him as God. Having chosen to go their own way, they became fools.

The thought in the last portion of these verses is that although God tried to get these people's attention, they finally came to the point in their degeneration where they essentially said, "God, we don't want to retain you in our knowledge anymore. We don't want you to bother us. We've put together our own little world. We're in love with ourselves and we don't need you. Because you've waited too long to fulfill the promises you have made to us, we don't believe you can fulfill them. We're going to make our way through this life." When they came to such hostility toward God, he turned them over to their own depraved passions.

Would you like to be given over to your own desires? Are those desires always toward God? There is still a nature in redeemed man that is quite capable of fulfilling the basest, grossest, and most vile deeds that any unregenerate despot can conceive.

I know people who once knew the truth of God, but through compromise, assumption, and indulgence they allowed it to slip away until they don't want anything to do with the Bible or the God they once served. When someone reaches that point, God gives them over to their own base desires, in hope they will come to the end of their vanity and again turn to him. (See Rom.8:20) If they don't, he ultimately has to allow them to be separated from him.

Actually, the wrath of God is his love in action against sin. If God didn't judge the hostility of sin and purge it, it would ultimately corrupt the entire universe - including himself. And if he allowed that to happen, he would cease being God, and all of creation would be helplessly lost and doomed forever.

In Conclusion

After showing how the Lord enables his people to partake of the divine nature, Peter continued, saying, "For if these {qualities} are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these {qualities} is blind {or} short-sighted, having forgotten {his} purification from his former sins." (2 Pet.1:8-9 NAS)

As faith is mixed with God's promises, the attributes of his nature grow and increase in us. They in turn cause us to become fruitful in the Lord's service, as well enable us to gain a greater understanding of his will, purpose, and nature. All these qualities become ours as we stand in faith during the test of time between receiving God's promise and its fulfilment.

If these qualities aren't being engaged and built upon, our vision and faith will gradually fade until we are again reduced to living by our own wisdom, abilities and provision. That will be the appropriate judgment of having forgotten we were purged from our former sins. There will be no one to blame except ourselves, for as as the Apostle Paul told the Galatians, "If I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor." (Gal.2:18)

"Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you." (2 Pet.1:10-11 NAS)

Don't ever take for granted what God has given. Rehearse it in your mind and heart. Teach it to your children as you instruct them in righteousness. Remind your family and friends, encouraging them to take the grace and blessings of God seriously, and not allow them to become common place and taken for granted. Give diligence to make your calling and election sure as you wait upon the Lord.

Are you still ascribing righteousness to God? Don't challenge his righteousness, because if you do, you will attempt to establish your own. You do that every time you tell God in your heart, "I know what you said, but I think what you really meant is...." Remember, except the Lord builds his house, we labor in vain, and except he watches over the house, we guard it in vain. (See Psa.127:1)

"Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves." (2 Cor.13:5 NKJ)

Only God can fulfil his word to you. We can't do it ourselves. But we can examine ourselves, and through his grace, stay in faith while allowing him to finish his work within us.

How long will that take?

That doesn't matter, nor is it important. What is important is your heart attitude while you're waiting for that word to be fulfilled. Are you standing in faith and drawing near to God, or are you willing to compromise what you've heard and begin heading down the path toward hostility? It all depends how you handle your test of time.

This study written by:
Eli Miller,
Insight Ministries,
PO Box 8000-474,
Abbotsford, BC V2S-6H1 CANADA
http://www.insightministries.com

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