1Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. 2Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.
3For I say through the grace that was given me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think; but to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith. 4For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members don’t have the same function, 5so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another, 6having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us: if prophecy, let’s prophesy according to the proportion of our faith; 7or service, let’s give ourselves to service; or he who teaches, to his teaching; 8or he who exhorts, to his exhorting; he who gives, let him do it with generosity; he who rules, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
9Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good. 10In love of the brothers be tenderly affectionate to one another; in honor prefer one another, 11not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, 12rejoicing in hope, enduring in troubles, continuing steadfastly in prayer, 13contributing to the needs of the saints, and given to hospitality.
14Bless those who persecute you; bless, and don’t curse. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. 16Be of the same mind one toward another. Don’t set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Don’t be wise in your own conceits. 17Repay no one evil for evil. Respect what is honorable in the sight of all men. 18If it is possible, as much as it is up to you, be at peace with all men. 19Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.” 20Therefore
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him.
If he is thirsty, give him a drink;
for in doing so, you will heap coals of fire on his head.”
21Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
According to the online dictionary, diligence means “Constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken; constancy in the performance of duty or the conduct of business; persistent exertion of body or mind; industry; assiduity.” Peter tells us that even though it may seem the Lord is tarrying in His return, we should be diligent in being true disciples of Jesus. When going through hardships, I often told my children, “DON’T GIVE UP. NEVER SURRENDER. KEEP ON KEEPING ON.” Living the Christian life is not easy, and we must continually remind ourselves that diligence is required. Just reading these devotionals requires diligence. It may or may not include reading these writings, but we each must remain vigilant and cognizant that we need fresh input from the Lord in our lives. This is what I call the “mannah principle.” His mercies are indeed new every morning, but we must open our eyes to see them and go out and collect them, and live them.
Of course, we need to surrender sometimes on things we work at. Sometimes, they were just a bad idea. But the general idea of not being a quitter is a good thing in spiritual matters. We must be persistent about accomplishing something. And what are we trying to accomplish? We want God to have His way with us so that we become more and more conformed to the image of Christ. (Romans 12:1-2) As our minds are renewed (seeing things God’s way), we become more and more like him in our holy and godly living. As John the Baptist said, “He must increase, and I must decrease”.
If we have been saved, we are in phase two, which is the part Paul calls “working out our salvation with fear and trembling”. I love how Peter tells them that Paul is sometimes hard to understand, but there is meat in there! Paul’s teachings explain that we don’t work FOR our salvation with fear and trembling, but rather we are working OUT our salvation through fear and trembling. That means living out and growing up in our identity in Christ. Knowing one’s identity is important. My father taught me certain things by telling me, “McMullens do this. Or, McMullens don’t do that.” I just learned to live out what it meant to be a McMullen. Both Peter's and Paul’s teachings remind us continually of our identity in Christ. Be diligent in living that out. That’s who you are. Now, live that way!