2 Peter 1:5

2 Peter 1:5

The Struggle for the Right.

The journey of life has to be travelled by us all. It must be made, whether shorter or longer between the cradle and the grave, and the point of consequence is to make it well.

I. And now a question arises of the gravest importance: What are the first efforts needed in the journey of life? The way of life, we know from the experience of the saints, if not from our own, from the teaching of Christ, if not from the whisper of our own souls, has many difficulties. It is like climbing the lofty mountain range when the crest, indeed, is white with glittering crystals, and the shining pinnacles take the sunlight at the breaking of the dawn, but to reach the crest there is a long and laborious struggle; there are intervening ridges, sharp and craggy; there are rough stones, which hurt the feet; there are deep gullies, where the water pours in angry torrents, and exposed, unsheltered platforms, swept by the multitudinous legions of the unpitying winds. Clearly have we to fix it in our minds for sake of others, if not for ourselves, that if such an ascent is truly to be achieved, the first steps must be planted well. To advance as we should advance in a Christian's journey, we must early learn the importance of the moral life; we must surely grasp the serious meanings of right and wrong.

II. What is the value, what the safeguard, of the moral law? Moral law is the law of liberty, belonging to conscious and self-determining man. It may be disregarded or set at defiance, for the subjects to it are free; but to disregard or set it at defiance is as sure to entail injury or ruin as a wild rush of some heavenly body, unrestrained by the laws which govern its motion, carrying with it devastation and the breaking up of worlds. The one law is of physical necessity; the other law may be freely obeyed or freely set at defiance; but both belong to the nature of things come from the Absolute, and are of eternity. The Christian religion has revealed the personal life and love of Him who is the source of moral truth. It has shown us the moral law in its complete earthly relation in the perfect example of the life of Jesus Christ. It has helped us to realise its splendour and our own weakness in attaining to its fulness, our need, therefore, of help, and our duty of high aspiration. It has made it vivid, living, sacred, near. It has reinforced motives, and revealed strong sanctions, so that without it the moral law would have less power of influence; without "faith" there would be a weakness of "virtue"; but it has insisted that "faith" was given in germ to the regenerate soul. One of the earliest efforts of the soul on its journey is a deeper sense of the greatness, the eternity, the claim, of the moral law; one of the first nearer steps is to make virtue a reality alongside faith.

III. "Add to your faith virtue." Virtue, whether it be what is called passive or active, whether it show itself in more measurable expressions in the outer scene of things or in the not less difficult but more hidden characters of restrainedness and patience, is essentially some form of manly strength. The pilgrim on his journey of life has ever to remember it that, to a great extent, he is made master of his own destiny, because, to a great extent, the formation of his character is placed in his own hands. We can, if we will, purify or select among our governing motives; we can, if we will, to a great extent, guide our acts. I am not forgetful of our inherent weakness as fallen creatures; I am not forgetful of the large assistances which we need, and which are supplied to us Christians by the grace of God. On these we may dwell in their proper places. But still it remains true that our acts are in our own power. By repeated acts, all moralists are agreed, habits are formed; and from the formation of habits comes the formation of character "Add to your faith virtue." In the difficult path of our pilgrimage, when we have to make serious decisions, when we have to be prepared for sudden emergencies, when we have to resist unlooked-for temptations, when we have to bear unexpected trials, when the well-being of others depends in no slight measure upon our conduct, when our own destiny seems at its very crisis, much, very much, will depend upon our having learned severe lessons of duty, having fixed deep in our souls the value and greatness of the moral law, having, in a word, by grace indeed, but by grace used with habitual faithfulness, added virtue to our faith.

W. J. Knox-Little, The Journey of Life; p. 25.

References: 2 Peter 1:5 . Clergyman's Magazine, vol. i., p. 246. 2 Peter 1:5 , 2 Peter 1:6 . Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 208; G. E. L. Cotton, Sermons and Addresses in Mar thorough College, p. 397; J. Keble, Sermons for Sundays after Trinity, Part I., p. 1.