KEY PRINCIPLES FROM THIS MESSAGE:
When you understand GOD’s divine design for suffering, then you EMBRACE it!!!
“Strive” – from diokete – means to pursue with all haste (“chasing” after), earnestly desiring to overtake (apprehend).
“everyone” from pas – means “all” in the sense of “each (every) part that applies.” The emphasis of the total picture then is on “one piece at a time.”
What Does Impartiality Mean to You? – blog 2/20/2
Partiality is part of the human condition. Impartiality simply describes what doesn’t exist in God.
How to Love Like Jesus – blog 2/13/2
To love like Jesus is to give sacrificially at personal expense, for the sake of others, especially those in need. It is to allow circumstances, not emotions, to dictate your responses. It is to act with integrity towards what you know is right (James 4:17).
We are to “strive for peace” (Heb 12:14) as “imitators of God” (Eph 5:2), for He is “the God of peace” (1Th 5:23).
“holiness” – from hagiasmon [root hagios = “holy”] – means sanctification (the process of advancing in holiness); ref: the believer being progressively transformed by the Lord into His likeness (similarity of nature)
Our striving alongside God’s grace does not supplant God’s sole power in sanctification; rather, it is a call to reject the sin nature’s temptations to disobey God’s commands (starting with the Gospel and continuing as believers).
Successfully striving for peace and holiness results in God’s grace being extolled.