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Making it to the End

I’m always looking for a way to know that I’m going to make it to the end in my faith. There’s always this underlining fear that I’ll lose my faith and fall out of love with Jesus. That something tragic will cause me to waver and I will feel as though I can’t hang on anymore. Oh my heart is so prone to wonder. Am I alone here, or have you ever felt this as well?

I have a small suspicion that a lot of us women have felt this at one point in our lives. This is not a fear that overtakes my heart or causes me to lose my breath, but it’s a fear that causes me to dig deep in my heart and soul and beg God to keep me close. It actually pushes me closer to my Father because in my head and in my heart I know that he’s the only way that I will sustain this faith until the end. 

Tweet this: I know that Jesus is the only way that I will sustain this faith until the end. @jamie_ivey #vergewomen

Recently I was reading in 2 Peter and my heart was so encouraged by Peter’s letter to these believers. One of the fears that I was talking about above is that I’ll become ineffective for the gospel. That my children will no longer see the gospel in me or hear it from my lips. That my life will no longer bear fruit. That my knowledge of Jesus will plateau off and cease to grow.

Peter says this in his letter, “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Did you see that last part in verse 8? I read that and immediately stopped and knew I had to back track. Basically God is telling us this: if we possess these qualities and they are increasing in us then we will not be ineffective or stop bearing fruit in the knowledge of Jesus. I think the first time I read this, my eyes welled up with tears at the thought of God laying out a plan for me to stay close to him. Those words inspired by God so many years ago to Peter were written with my encouragement in mind.

Peter is explaining how we can grow closer to the LORD by supplementing our faith with these character traits. I want self-control. I want brotherly affection. I want to be steadfast. I want them all. God’s word motivates me with the promise that these traits will keep me from being ineffective for the gospel, and that, my friends, is good news. 

The next verse goes on to say this, “For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.”

I used to think that nearsightedness meant being unable to see close up, but it’s not. Being nearsighted means that you can’t see far away. Peter is telling us that if you don’t possess these qualities you have become so blind to what has happened to you long ago. 

I never want to get so complacent in my life and walk with Jesus that I no longer remember what happened the day he called my name. That I forget about the cleansing of my sins. That I neglect the way God sent his perfect, sinless son, Jesus, to die in my place so that I could be in a relationship with him.

Tweet this: I never want to get so complacent that I forget about the cleansing of my sins. @jamie_ivey #vergewomen

Friends, let us possess these qualities so that we continue to bear fruit for the gospel and so that we continue to grow in our knowledge of our Lord. We don’t have to live in fear about our faith, but yet we can live in confidence that it is He who changed us and continues to change us.