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The Book of Second Peter: Message Eight
By Dr. Michael Guido, D.D.
The drill officer was
putting his soldiers through some exercises during which he ordered
them to lie on their backs, raise their legs, and then to move them
as if riding a bicycle. He saw one of the men holding his legs
motionless, and shouted, "What's the idea of stopping?"
Oh," he answered, "I'm coasting downhill." Many
Christians are coasting downhill because they're not exercising
their faith.
On going through a plant, a
visitor saw a magnet which held a collection of tools. Just as he
passed, he saw a man add another tool to it. "Why are you doing
this?" he asked. "Because," replied the scientist,
"it's been lying around doing nothing and is losing its power.
So now I'm giving it something to do, a little more every morning,
and it's gaining, it's growing stronger every day." Faith, like
the magnet, must never lie around doing nothing. Every day you must
add to it virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness,
brotherly kindness and love, declares 2nd Peter 1:5, 6
and 7. We've considered all but the last two on previous broadcasts,
so let's consider them now.
Have you been doing your utmost to
add brotherly kindness to your faith? "I expect to pass through
life but once," said Penn. "If therefore, there be any
kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow-being,
let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass
this way again." "Make it a rule," said Kingsley,
"and pray to God to help you to keep it; never, if possible, to
lie down at night without being able to say: 'I have made one human
being at least a little wiser, or a little happier, or a little
better this day.'" "I had rather never receive a
kindness," said Seneca, "than never bestow one. Not to
return a benefit is the greater sin, but not to confer it, is the
earlier." "The greatest thing we can do for our heavenly
Father," said another, "is to be kind to some of His
children." But there's an ever-increasing number of folk who
long to do something outstanding, yet the greatest thing of all is
within their reach - kindness. "You may never be clever,"
said a godly mother to her son, "but you can always be
kind." Heeding her advice, he became one of England's greatest
ministers. A missionary wrote home, after one of his difficult
trips, "No preaching on this trip. The people couldn't
understand any language, except kindness." Thank God, the
uneducated can understand kindness, the deaf can hear kindness and
the blind can see kindness. And it pays. Because Rahab was kind to
the messengers, when the city of Jericho was destroyed along with
her citizens, she was rewarded by the preservation of herself and
her family. Because Jonathan was kind to David, his son was rewarded
by having all the land of Saul restored to him, and he ate at the
king's table continually. Because some barbarous people were kind to
Paul, he healed all that were diseased on that island.
"Life is mostly froth and
bubbles; only 2 things stand like stone:
Kindness is another's troubles,
courage in your own."
Have you been doing your utmost to
add love to your faith? You're commanded to in 2nd Peter
1:7. It's a mark by which we know we're saved. The Bible says,
"We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we
love the brethren." It's a mark by which the world knows we're
saved. The Bible says, "By this shall all men know that ye are
My disciples, if ye have love one to another." In Scotland one
day, a big eagle carried away a sleeping infant. The whole village
went after it, but the eagle perched itself on a high cliff and
everyone despaired of the life of the child. A sailor tried to climb
that cliff, but couldn't. A mountain climber, hale and hearty,
tried, but was forced to give up. At last a poor woman came forward.
Putting her feet on one shelf of the rock, and then another, and
another, she rose to the very top of the cliff. While the hearts of
the folk below were frightened, she took the baby, and came down
step by step, with the child safe in her bosom. Why did that woman
succeed when the sailor and the mountain climber failed? Because
there was a tie between her heart and the baby. She was the mother.
Add to your faith this tie of love of the Lord and to the lost, and
you'll do great things for God.
copyright 2000 Guido
Evangelistic Association
All Scripture
verses are quoted from the New King James Version..
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Scripture Study on the book of Second Peter.
This series of
messages on the books of the Bible were originally
written for broadcast on Dr. Guido's radio program,
"The Sower." They are collected and
reprinted here for your enjoyment and spiritual
edification.
