2 Peter 1:10-11 Why the rather, brothers, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if you do these things, you shall never fall:… Do we not in worldly and intellectual circles observe men who deplorably fail to fulfil their election? We see those who in the largeness of their mental gifts are evidently predestinated leaders and ornaments of their generation; but yielding to temptation, they surrender themselves to inferior pleasures and pursuits, the magnificent promise of their nature comes to naught, and their career closes in melancholy failure. Others are born into privileged families, they inherit titles and wealth, they are called by the fortune of birth to be social princes, they are indisputably elected to high position and influence; and yet not infrequently do these predestinated ones manage by ill conduct to tarnish their coronet and finish on the dunghill. As in the intellectual and social life, so is it in the spiritual; souls called to immortal distinction fail through sloth and sin to make their election sure. We must be diligent to cast out the evil things we find in ourselves. Many roots of bitterness springing up trouble us, and it is not easy to cast them out. The Canadian thistle is one of the direst plagues with which the husbandman has to contend. It seems impossible to extirpate it. It is well-nigh proof against the most desperate efforts to get rid of it; fire, poison, and the knife have no more than a temporary effect upon its vitality. Neither the scythe, the hoe, nor the plough can destroy it. Dug up, burnt up, strewn with salt, treated with aquafortis, covered with lime, it springs and blooms and seeds anew. Nothing remains but to blow it up with dynamite. Our faults are so deep and inveterate that we must bend our whole strength to the task of their destruction. We must give diligence to bring into our life all good and beautiful things. The apostle in this passage enjoins us to add one virtue to another until we possess and display them in all their completeness and beauty. It is not enough to cultivate isolated patches of life, to raise this grace or that; we must bring in every virtue, every grace, and cover the whole ground of character and action. Most gardeners are content when their grounds include only a few specimens of the growths of various types and climes; if they can produce a fair show with these, they are satisfied. It is quite different, however, with the national gardeners at Kew; there the grand aim is certainly not display, it is not even to possess a profusion of floral treasures, but to make the grounds and conservatories widely representative, to make them comprehend as far as possible every shrub and tree and flower that grows upon the face of the whole earth. The paradises of God bear all manner of precious fruit, and if our heart and life are to be the King's gardens we shall need to give all diligence. Having brought all good things into our life, it is only by diligence that we keep them there. "If ye do these things, ye shall never fall" — indicating the tendency and peril of our nature. Unless there is constant diligence and culture we cannot hold the heights we have scaled, the fields we have won, the ground we have re claimed. Neglect a beautiful garden for a while, and see how savage nature will avenge herself and spoil your paradise! As a French naturalist says: "There is in nature a terrible reaction against man; if we put our hand into our bosom, the garden is in revolt." It is much the same with human nature. Slowly, painfully do we subdue our life to orderliness, to purity, to beauty; but how it springs back if we relax our vigilance I We need all diligence to cast out of our breast the bitter root, the wild grape, the poisoned gourd. Then, having brought good things into our life, we need all diligence to convert them into perfect things. "If ye do these things, ye shall never fall." The original is very impressive and assuring: "Ye shall not fall by any means ever." A man may do his best in the worldly sphere and fail, but no saint can do his best and fail. "For so an entrance shall be administered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom." "Give all diligence." The character of life's ending is much in our own power; we are now determining our end. The measure of our diligence shall be the measure of our victory. Every well-spent hour is another flower for our dying pillow; every earnest effort to please God is so much sunshine for the dark valley; every mastered temp tation brings another angel to sing in the chamber where the good man meets his fate. (W. L. Watkinson.) Parallel Verses KJV: Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: |
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