August 16

Read: II Peter 1:5-11

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith (II Peter 1:5).

Add To Your Faith

Our text begins, “And beside this.” Beside what? Beside the precious promises which assure us of our salvation through faith. God has a richness and depth of life in fellowship with himself that is far beyond what we know today. There are as-yet-unrealized possibilities of a godly life open to every sanctified Christian. There are glorious possibilities of going deeper and further with Christ. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to go before us and to lead us into these riches of God’s grace. It is a part of the romance of the sanctified life that it is a growing experience. We cannot now know all that God plans to do for us if we will keep fully yielded to the leadership of His Holy Spirit.

God’s plan for my growth in grace is by means of the spiritual ideals which He sets before me. When the awareness of some as-yet-unrealized possibility of grace makes me uncomfortable, the Holy Spirit is by this very awareness urging me to take definite steps in that direction.

If in these hours of new light we yield either to indifference or to despair, we shall fail to realize God’s purpose for us. These are the times when we add to our faith, if we respond obediently to such enlarged vision. Thus we move toward the fuller realization of one more of the bundle of possibilities that a complete dedication to God opens up to our lives.

Prayer For Today

Dear Lord, You have shown me new light today. I shall move forward into the circle of that light. Let me add to my faith. Show me the steps that lead closer to Your perfect will for me. Amen.