One of the joys of fatherhood is seeing your child walk for the first time. When our daughter was closing in on her first birthday, I was certain she was minutes away from walking on her own. She walked around the furniture of our house all day long and would walk everywhere with me, her hand firmly clutching my pinky. She clearly had the ability to walk on her own, but she had made a very conscience decision that she was not going to. For several months she continued holding my pinky, walking around the furniture, and holding onto other objects. She had the balance and the strength to walk, but for whatever reason had decided she couldn’t and wouldn’t. Finally, one day she saw her pacifier across the room. The only way she was going to get to it was to walk on her own. This motivated her to finally take that big first step, and she successfully walked to her pacifier. After that, nothing could stop her, and she has been moving at warp speed ever since.
I share this story because it reminds me of the two biggest reasons we choose to not follow God’s ways: we think we can’t and we don’t want to. Sometimes, like my daughter, we think we lack the ability to stand up for God, to serve Him, or to follow his ways. We know what we should do, perhaps even what we are called to do, but we feel that we can’t do it. Other times, lets be honest, we simply do not want to. We don’t want to drop that tithe in the offering plate, sign-up to teach Sunday School, approach our un-churched neighbor, or speak up when others are acting wrongly. We need to change our mentality from I can’t and I do not want to to I can and I will. I encourage you to read the following passage from 2 Peter 1 today. My prayer is that this passage will encourage and inspire you to develop an attitude that you can and will follow God throughout your life, even when it is difficult.
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 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. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1:3-11
