Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ’s sake. (Written between December 1722 and July 1723) (Resolutions 1-21 were written at one sitting in 1722)
Resolution # 2
Now in plain English...
I will continually work towards coming up with new ways to accomplish the things mentioned in resolution number one.
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How about you?
In what ways are you continually working to make the character and nature of our Lord more attractive and more desirable by your actions?
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How about you?
In what ways are you continually working to make the character and nature of our Lord more attractive and more desirable by your actions?
I try to have a kind word for everyone ........though sometimes it backfires.
ReplyDeleteHave a good day Gregg
Yvonne.
I'm going to really have to think about that one! How can I, imperfect to the core, possibly make the character and nature of our Lord more attractive and more desirable by my flawed actions? Can I improve upon the holy character and nature of our Lord by what I do? With all due respect, I'll have to flip that one around and trust that Christ, perfect to the core, will strengthen me in and through His flawless character and nature, to persevere until the end. Blessings!
ReplyDeletePeter's argument in his first letter to the believers in the five provinces he wrote to was that even in the midst of persecution they were to live in such a manner that made the character of God attractive to the pagans with the view of seeing some of these godless pagans become God worshippers or God-fearers.
ReplyDeleteWe make his character attractive by living his character visibily. This is the reality of the fruit of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives.
God is gracious, by His grace, we live graciously among the pagans, God is patient, so we live patiently among the pagans, God's character includes mercy, so we demonstrate God's mercy to the pagans, empowered by the Holy Spirit, trusting in God to energize our living out of his character and nature, believing that God uses us to demonstrate the beauty and attractiveness of His character, in such a manner that some pagans see God's character in our lives and God makes them desire Him, thereby making them God-fearers.
Peter's argument and admonition is fantastic and is applicable to us today!
I can never do enough for the Lord. I try to honor him with my blog, YouTube, and Facebook. I try to honor him when I lead the children at church. My personality often gets in the way. I also try to be content with my situation in life and let the Lord lead me, but again, my impatience gets in the way. We all need to pray for God to daily do away with ourselves and lead us to know what to do.
ReplyDeleteThese are great resolution; Praying and spending time with the Lord everyday helps my commitment to Jesus:)
ReplyDeleteI like the way you put these in simple, plain English, that is helpful.
ReplyDeleteGreat encouragement to learn to seek out ways to improve.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind explanation, Gregg. Peter's argument is fantastic! I do hope to reflect God's character and do hope to display His grace, patience, strength, and beauty in any circumstance (so help me God). Blessings!
ReplyDeleteAs a Christian, I must make a continual choice between walking according to the desires of my old self and walking according to the desires of the Holy Spirit.
ReplyDeleteWe are told in Galatians 5:16, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” I can learn to walk in the Holy Spirit as I read and obey God’s Word, give thanks to Him in all things, and continually confess my sins to Him and ask for forgiveness.
I've found that walking in the Spirit can be a double edged sword. Some will be attracted to the Lord but most are not. Didn't Jesus say, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you." John 15:18