Memorize: 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; 2 Peter 1:5-7.
Devotional Reading: 2 Corinthians 6:1-18
We have been looking at Christian Character for the past two days, on Monday we looked at how to pursue Christian Character, yesterday we looked at four of the attributes of Christian Character, today shall look at the three of the attributes; we shall conclude the series tomorrow by the grace of God. The Character of every believer is the highest currency that the individual has. What people buy as an attraction in the life of another person is their good Character.
Many people have become great in life because of their good Character, similarly, there are some people who have been very successful in life with great recorded achievements, but suddenly everything, they lost all they had built over the years due to their terrible Character. We must be extreemly careful and take note of our character.
The fifth attribute we will look at is Patience – patience is the capacity to accept or tolerate others. We sometimes experience delay, trouble, or suffering in life, we must not get angry or extreemly upset, we must be patient. It historically come from the Latin word, “patientia”, which also gives us the word patient. Today, the use of the word patience is at its lowest point than any other time in the last 500 years of recorded history. This is a telling commentary on how society as a whole stands when it comes to patience. People generally have become impatient and Intolerant; there are only few people in our world today who are genuinely patient. Proverbs 14:29; “He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly”.
The sixth attribute is Godliness – godliness is having great reverence for God and his laws, conforming to the laws and wishes of God, devout, pious. In 2 Timothy 3:5; Paul spoke about some people who have the form of godliness but denied the power thereof, from such he said turn away. It is one of the strongest signs of the last day’s which is widely demonstrated in our world today. 1 Timothy 6:6&7; “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
The seventh attribute is Brotherly kindness – The Greek word for brotherly kindness is transliterated, “Philadelphia” a word involving two words, “Phileo” (Love) and “Adelphos” (brother), it literally means “The love of brothers” it is through brotherly kindness that we can have ‘kind affection’ towards one another. It is brotherly kindness therefore that provides a true sense of family in our association as members of the Lord’s body. Romans 12:10; “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another”. But what do we have today, we have brotherly and sisterly wickedness, evil and wicked works, some of those things that you will not even hear amongst some unbelievers and Pagans. Those evil brothers and evil sister think that God is weak or unable to carry out judgment, No, our God is not weak or incapable; he only gives the rope of mercy because of his grace. Ecclesiastes 8:11; “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore, the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. God is calling everyone to repentance, He is inviting you to accept His offer of salvation if you have not given your life to Christ and start to build a Christian Character.
I pray that the Holy Spirit will lead, guide and direct you in Jesus name.
Prayer point: O LORD my helper, please help me live a worthy and fruitful Christian life in Jesus name
Key Dose: Strive to make your life channel of blessings with reputable Christian Character.
Pastor James Ademuyiwa
Senior Pastor
In His Presence Christ Tabernacle