EXCELLENCE PART ONE
2nd Peter 1:1-10 says, “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 Saviour Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 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: 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. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.”
How many people would like to fail in life? I believe nobody wants to fail in life. But the above scriptural passage is telling us the secret of making it and becoming successful in life. Don’t just have faith but you must add other things to it. Faith alone cannot make you a success in life. The first thing you receive when you become a Christian is faith. “For by grace are ye saved through faith.” -Ephesians 2:8. But He said you shouldn’t hold on to your faith alone, He said you must add to your faith virtue. 2nd Peter 1:5 says, “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge.” What is virtue? According to New Living Translation 2nd Peter 1:5 says, “In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge.” Virtue means excellence. What then is excellence? It simply means having good qualities in an unusual degree. Excellence is talking about being better than others in character, in idea, in knowledge. It is talking about being exceptional.
God is simply telling you that you should be different not just from the people of the world but even in Church, you should be different. You should be better than your peers in the way you dress, the way you speak, in attitude and character and in everything that concerns you. God wants His church to be beautiful and if He cares about the physical building, why do you think He doesn’t care about you? He does. If God wants His house beautiful why do you think putting on shabby clothes or dressing to expose parts of your body is what God desire to have in you? That is not excellent. If it is not
good quality, it is not excellent. Let it be that every time they think about Christianity they think about you. Let there be no ‘BUT’ in your relationship with Jesus; everything should be in an exceptional manner. Let it be that every time success is thought of, you come to mind. Let it be that every time someone thinks about good character, they think about you. This is what Christianity is all about. Excellence is living your life like God would have you live through Scriptures. It is doing the Word and doing things the way God would have you do them. Excellence is God’s goodness being expressed through you in the way you speak, in the way you act, in the way you live.
good quality, it is not excellent. Let it be that every time they think about Christianity they think about you. Let there be no ‘BUT’ in your relationship with Jesus; everything should be in an exceptional manner. Let it be that every time success is thought of, you come to mind. Let it be that every time someone thinks about good character, they think about you. This is what Christianity is all about. Excellence is living your life like God would have you live through Scriptures. It is doing the Word and doing things the way God would have you do them. Excellence is God’s goodness being expressed through you in the way you speak, in the way you act, in the way you live.
Now look at the book of Acts 6:1-3 the Bible says, “And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.” The first thing they looked for among the men to fill these position was honesty. Is honesty excellent? Yes it is. In other words even though the person was filled with the Holy Ghost and wisdom but doesn’t have good honest character, he is disqualified. What caught my attention in this passage of Scriptures is that He said, look out from among you seven men of honest report. The Bible said the first time they preached the gospel, they won about three thousand souls and the second time, they won about four thousand souls. The Bibe says the Holy Ghost kept adding to the Church daily such that should be saved . which means they were having more than seven thousand members in Church and yet they had to look for just seven men having honesty. That tells you that this character is scare and whatever is scare is so important and everybody wants it. Don’t just be a Christian having faith, add excellence to it. Be so exceptional like the believers in Antioch that they were called ‘Christians.’ Let the same be said about you.
To be continued.
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