TLIC FAMILY. DAY 340. DECEMBER 6: MAKE EVERY EFFORT.

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THINK TOGETHER

Do you like building things? Why?

READ TOGETHER

Peter has already told us that God has given us everything we need to be godly (like God). But becoming more and more like Jesus doesn’t just magically happen to us. Here’s how Peter explains it:

2 Peter 1:5-7. 5make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 

Peter tells us to make every effort to add the character traits of Jesus to our lives. But what are these character traits? Peter also told us that:

  • Virtue: Jesus’ goodness and kindness.
  • Knowledge: Jesus’ understanding of how life works.
  • Self-control and steadfastness: Jesus’ patience and courage to keep going.
  • Godliness and brotherly affection: Jesus’ honoring of God and others.
  • And of course, love: Jesus’ love that chooses to do what is best for others.

Now, don’t get making every effort confused with trying harder and harder. When you try harder and harder it is usually because you have to get better at something. But God doesn’t need us to do better, he simply wants us to share in Jesus’ life. So we make every effort to share in Jesus by adding his character to our life as we go.

It’s sort of like building a favorite Lego set. You add block after block until you complete the design. You’re not earning your Legos – you’ve already been given all the Legos. But since you have the Legos, go ahead and make every effort to build the design. Why? Because it’s fun to build Legos and it’s fun to be like Jesus.

Because of Jesus we have everything we need to be like him.

With Jesus we can live with his same character traits.

DO SOMETHING TOGETHER

Play with Legos for a while. Legos take effort, just like building Jesus into our life takes effort. But we do it because it’s how we see the finished project and enjoy it.

PRAY TOGETHER

Jesus, since you have given me everything that I need in order to be like you, please help me to add your character traits to my life. Amen.

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