Food for Thought (7/06/16)

No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it. - Albert Einstein

In thinking about all the truths present in 2 Peter chapter 1, the ideas of maturity and complacency come to mind. Maturity can be understood as what happens when a person gains perspective through their experiences.

Maturity is when you stop complaining and making excuses in your life; you realize everything that happens in life is a result of the previous choices you’ve made and start making new choices to change your life. - Roy T. Bennett

To mature is to take responsibility. Responsibility involves accountability and commitment. In other words, you become a part of something and that something becomes a part of you. When you feel responsible you begin to operate by or act on the beliefs and values of what you feel responsible for (spiritual growth, family, career or any other group you feel that you are a part of or represent), and when that happens you want the best for whatever you feel responsible.

Philippians 2: 12-15

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.

Galatians 6: 6-10

Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Ephesians 4: 1-6

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

1 Peter 5: 8-11

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Maturity and the responsibility involved also help us fight off complacency. We can become complacent after we believe something has become routine for us. When something becomes routine for us we no longer spend time thinking about the task, like riding a bike or driving a car, and we go into auto-pilot. In auto-pilot we are no longer attentive to the task at hand and do not see the risks and dangers involved because we are not fully paying attention.


It is possible for us to fall into sin if we do not pay attention to the things we do. When in auto-pilot we can drift down the river of life and find ourselves in situations we never thought we would be in.

Galatians 6: 1-5

Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For each one shall bear his own load.

2 Peter 1: 5-11

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Let us consider how much responsibility we take in our lives. Does the responsibility we choose to take honor the God we serve?

Darnell Sheffield