Knowledge: The Development Of Character

And beside this, giving all diligence, 

add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

 and to knowledge temperance; and to 

temperance patience; and to patience 

godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; 

and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these 

things be in you, and abound, they make you 

that ye shall either be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he 

that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot 

see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was 

purged from his old sins.

2Peter 1:5-9 

     This blog is about gaining knowledge, to cause you to think and to think critically. It is this lack of critical thinking that leads many to believe a lie. Those who are doing all that Peter, under inspiration from God, wrote for us so that we may not be barren, that is, so that we can know the truth and if we abound in this knowledge, this exercise of life, you will not be as a blind man being led around by who knows who. The Greek word translated "make" is a good translation but does not give to us a deeper meaning of the word. There are other words that are translated "make" but this word is sort of special as it means to be set in place, to constitute, to appoint, to conduct, to render, or cause to be, and our English word "make" does not give us this fuller meaning: the Greek does.

     Authentic Christians are ones who follow Scripture in their everyday life. They form habits, give diligence, concentrate, they are as the Bereans were: ensuring what was being taught to them were of Scripture and not of man. Habits do not come as part of a newborn baby, they are developed, they do not come spiritually, they are formed as it with character, you have to make character. External influences give a foundation for the building of Character, and one such influence is religion, a person' idea of God. Authentic Christians develop Authentic Christian Faith, not by some man-made doctrine (as good as it may be), no, they build on the life God puts into you and that life to be developed is the knowledge of God through His word. We are to "add" so that we have work to do, it does not, by God, be infused into you just because you believed. You do have help, the Paraclete, the One that comes along side with you, the One God gives to an Authentic believer. You are not alone in this quest to become what God intends for you to become and this coming of this new life is not done just for the duty of it, no, it is done because by the grace of God who is behind this new life will lead me (that is, if I allow Him to lead). God does engineer circumstances and by your obedience to Him, by His grace given to you all is yours by the atonement of the cross. 

     Cultural, nominal, liberal Christians are often looking for some sort of euphoric feeling, some form of grandiose experience, to be seen as a "good" person and this according to their social world. It is not that those cultural persons are not serious about their faith, they are, unfortunately they are studying with a faulty view of God and what God desires for His children. The Bible must be studied to be able to grasp the entire foundation of their faith, this goes for those who are Authentic Christians as well: why do you believe as you believe? You, and I, are on a spiritual journey and we must become aware of the pitfalls that might be on our journey. Let us get on the right track, the right path so that our journey is not haphazardly going nowhere, even though we think we are on our way to our destination. All journeys start with a first step. Here is a Christian' first step: repent, believe, deny yourself and follow Jesus Christ, have the confidence that God by His grace will lead you and will develop in you a character formed after the image of Jesus Christ. Choose the right road, narrow, or wide, each have consequences, one to life eternal, the other to death eternal. A person might just be going on their merry way thinking all is good, when if fact all is bad, but they go to their death with a smile on their face: that is: until they meet God at the judgment seat. Accept the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, develop your character to become an Authentic Christian, to develop Authentic Christian Faith. 

And Ruth said, Intreat me not to lieave thee,

    or to return from following after thee;

for wither thou goest, I will go; and where

    thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be

my people, and thy God my God.

                       Ruth 1:16

Your job: character development

Richard L. Crumb