Want to make yourself useful as a Christian? Take a lesson from Peter …

When you were a kid, did you ever have an adult say something to you that began like this: “Make yourself useful …”?

It seems we don’t hear it as much anymore, but a common phrase from adults to children when I was a kid was that preface, “Make yourself useful …”

In my memory from growing up, adults back then weren’t as indulgent about kids “sitting around”; if we weren’t outside playing, we should be “making ourselves useful.”

In a sense, the Apostle Peter adopts a similar idea about being God’s children in his second letter, which begins with a greeting:

“This letter is from Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ. I am writing to you who share the same precious faith we have …” 2 Peter 1:1b.

Having identified himself and who he’s writing to, Peter dives into what’s on his mind, beginning with this:

“By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires,” 2 Peter 1:3-4.

Just barely into his letter, Peter makes the statement above, but it’s not just to state something; Peter makes his statement because he wants us to do something with it. If ” … God has given us everything we need for living a godly life …,” then in Peter’s thinking — as inspired by the Holy Spirit as he wrote — he thinks we ought to do something with a life so gifted by God:

“In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises …” 2 Peter 1:5a.

So how would Peter have us respond? What is it that he would have us do?

He doesn’t leave us wondering, but gets specific:

“Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone,” 2 Peter 1:5b-7.

Why does Peter pick these particular things to “do”?

Because supplementing our faith with such things will make us more “useful” as children of God. Peter puts it like this:

“The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins. So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen …,” 2 Peter 1:8-11a.

If you supplemented your faith in the way Peter describes, would you be a more “productive” and “useful” child of God?

By the way, did you notice Peter says there’s a reward for making ourselves more “productive” and “useful”?

“… Do these things, and you will never fall away. Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” 2 Peter 1:10b-11.

It sounds like being a productive and useful child of God is good for everyone!

Scotty