Sermon: The Promise and Possibility of Holiness (2 Peter 1:1-11)

This is an English translation of a sermon I preached in chapel here at the Biblical Seminary of Colombia this past Thursday, September 24, elaborated from the Spanish outline I used to actually preach from. This was my first chance to preach for the whole seminary community. I hope the sermon can bless and challenge others through this blog.

           When you hear the word holiness, what is your first reaction? I suspect that a majority of us feel a slight discomfort when we hear the word. We know it is something we are supposed to pursue, but thinking about it makes us feel inept and incapable as followers of Jesus. Yes, I know holiness matters, but do I really have to listen to another sermon on it?

            About a year ago I was at a Bible study at my church and the leader asked us to share one word that summed up what God had been teaching each of us recently. A lot of people said things like “love,” “peace,” or “Father.” When it got to me, I said “holiness”. I noticed a couple of people in the group visibly react, straightening up a bit as if to say, “Holiness? Why mention something so negative?”

            Why is it that we tend to see holiness as something negative, something we’d rather not talk about? I think when it comes down to it, the reality is that a lot of us doubt whether God can really transform our lives. For those who are students, you have to fill out your Spiritual Formation Project every semester in Ministry Practicum class, identifying an area of your character to seek to intentionally grow in and spiritual disciplines and practices that will help get you there. If you’re diligent, you fill out the weekly log of activities sharing what you have done to seek growth in that area. But what is your attitude in the process? Is it just more paperwork to fill out? Another class requirement? Or do you enter each semester with the expectation that God really will work to make you more like Christ than you were before?

            Today I want to focus on a text in the Bible that isn’t particularly well-known, from a book that gets largely overlooked. But it is a text that God has used greatly in my own life to teach me about holiness and its relation with the salvation that we have in Christ. What we will see in this passage is that holiness is something that is positive, possible, and nothing less than a progressive participation in the fullness of salvation. Please open your Bibles to 2 Peter 1:1-11.

The text says the following (ESV):

¹ Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:

² May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

³ His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, ⁴ by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. ⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, ⁶ and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, ⁷ and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. ⁸ For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. ¹⁰ Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. ¹¹ For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

            What we find in this passage is an exhortation to holiness based on a promise in two parts: a promise about the possibility of obedience and a promise about the nature of the salvation that we have in Christ. But before we get to those promises, we have the greeting in verses 1-2.

            Many aspects of the greetings in the epistles are formulaic. But if we pay close attention we can note that each author adds his own particular touch to his greetings, often related to the key theological themes of his letter. In 2 Peter what is most notable is the way that Peter describes his recipients. He writes to them saying that they are “those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” The word for “of equal standing” means that the faith of his readers is equal in honor to the faith of apostles like Peter. They aren’t second class Christians, inferior to the apostles. They are on the same level, sharing the same promises from God. But how did they come to have this faith of equal honor to that of Peter and the rest of the apostles? Verse 1 says that they “have obtained” this faith, but a more literal translation would be that they “have received” it, as in the way one receives something by lot or by the divine will. In other words, they have a faith that is not inferior to that of Peter not because they are so great, but because God is so generous.

            Now I imagine most of you will probably say, “Yeah, of course, I agree with that. Our faith is on the same level as anyone else’s.” But when the rubber meets the road, the real question is the following: If you have a faith that is in no way inferior to that of the apostles, do you really believe that the same character transformation is possible in your life that we see in people like Peter, Paul, John, or Barnabas?

            After describing this faith that puts us on the same level as the apostles, Peter shifts in verses 3-4 to describing two blessings of this faith in our lives. The first blessing, which we find in 1:3, is that God has given us everything necessary to obey him. What Peter says literally is that God has given us “all things that pertain to life and godliness.” What does that mean? Well, we might think it means that God has promised to always bless us with whatever we need to make us happy. But we know from experience and from other parts of the Bible that that isn’t the case. “All things that pertain to life and godliness” doesn’t mean God always gives us what we want, but rather that he gives us what we need to be faithful. It’s for that reason that the NIV paraphrases a bit in its translation, saying, “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life.”

            How do we come to experience that new capacity for obedience? Verse 3 says that it happens through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. The Greek word for knowledge here appears two other times in the passage, in verses 2 and 8, and most likely points back to the knowledge of God that they obtained at their conversion. For that reason, verse 8 focuses on not being unfruitful in such knowledge. Our justification is by faith alone, but it ought to produce fruit as a natural result.

So then, this is a promise for every believer. But so often we put limits on God’s grace. In the face of which situation do you say, “I am incapable of confronting this?” Perhaps it is a temptation, perhaps a diagnosis of a chronic illness, perhaps a death in the family. Or maybe you are ready to deal with whatever challenge might arise in ministry, but you’re deathly afraid of having to face a ministry failure. Maybe loneliness is something you just don’t know how to cope with. Whatever that area might be, God has given us a promise: that his power gives us what we need to live for him when we depend on his grace.

The second blessing of this faith that we have received is that God has promised to make us like himself, as we find in verse 4. The verse tells us that through God’s promises we will “become partakers of the divine nature.” When was the last time you meditated on that? I imagine that very few us of think of our salvation in such terms, if for no other reason than that if we didn’t already know it was part of the Bible we would probably say it is heresy. It smells a little too much like New Age thought or pantheism. But Peter isn’t saying that we are literally going to become God, where any distinction between God and the believer ceases to exist. What he is concerned about is total character transformation.

I say this not to explain away the text, but based on what Peter himself tells us. If you note the way that verse 4 ends, Peter relates the promise of partaking in the divine nature with “having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” The human problem is fundamentally a problem of corruption, but what kind of corruption? A large part of the pagan world in Peter’s day and afterward in the early church thought that corruption was the result of finitude and materiality. We are corrupt and separate from God because we exist in a body. But that’s not the problem, according to Peter. The problem is sinful desire. What separates us from God is sin, not finitude.

What Peter is saying is that God has promised to make us like himself, to completely transform our nature so that we live like Christ. How much do you yearn for that? How big is your concept of salvation?

Salvation certainly includes forgiveness of sins and justification, but it goes beyond that to the total transformation of our natures so that each and every one of us who knows Christ will be transformed to live like Jesus. For me, that is the only lasting hope for society. Of course we ought to seek justice here and now. But when we look at our society and see the problems of violence and dysfunctional relationships that are so ingrained, really the only complete hope is that in the new heavens and the new earth God will have decisively done away with the human sin problem altogether, and we will live in a world where every single person lives a life just as holy as Jesus did when he walked on earth. That’s what’s involved in participating in the divine nature—nothing less that the eradication of sin from the human heart once and for all when God gives us resurrected bodies.

When I lived in the United States, I had a number of friends there who were atheists or agnostics. One of the biggest objections that I often heard to the gospel from them was the following: “Why would I even want to go to heaven? It seems pretty boring to spend eternity praising God, especially if I have to sit around on a cloud strumming a harp. And if I have to spend eternity with these church folks, even worse! That would be the ultimate punishment.” I understand why some people see things this way, but they are missing in a very fundamental way the true Christian message. Christianity is not about getting forgiven and just staying there, never to truly change. The hope of the resurrection is the hope of total transformation. I can look forward to spending eternity with all the church folks for one simple reason—they are all going to be perfectly living like Jesus lived.

When we understand that this is the final goal of our salvation, we can start to make a little more sense of why holiness is something so positive for the biblical writers. Holiness is something so supremely good because it is nothing less than experiencing in the here and now a glimpse of the total transformation that awaits us when God raises and glorifies us. For that reason, Peter shifts in verse 5 to exhortation, ceasing to speak in terms of we and the promises that apply to us, and now addressing his readers directly as you. If the fullness of salvation is actually being like God himself in our character, we ought to seek to manifest that character starting now.

In verses 5 through 7 Peter gives us a chain of seven virtues to add to faith, culminating in the highest of them all, love. Love is the greatest expression of the Christian life. But the problem with love is that it is so easy to deceive ourselves. “I’m a loving person. I get along well with everyone else and don’t seem to have too many issues. I’ve got this covered.” The problem is so much of the time we think we love because we have some nice feeling, but our actions just don’t back it up. It is here that Peter’s chain of virtues can be so helpful.

Some of the students in my Ministry Practicum group are doing their Spiritual Formation project this semester related to the value of love. But one of the things that becomes painfully obvious when we start asking how we can grow in love is that in order to grow we need specificity. We have to focus on the most routine and unglamorous aspects of life to arrive at something that seems so simple, being a loving person. So, what are the steps that Peter suggests that can help us get to love?

First he tells us that we need to add these different virtues or characteristics to our lives. The word literally means supply or provide, and it highlights personal responsibility in the sanctification process. The first thing to add is virtue or moral excellence. I think the reason that Peter focuses on virtue as the first thing to add is that virtue shows the initial fruit of true repentance. When a person comes to Christ, they must repent and put their faith in him. Unfortunately, a lot of times we preach a gospel that stresses faith to the exclusion of repentance. Repentance, of course, is not penance. My justification does not depend on me doing a certain quantity of good to prove the sincerity of my repentance. Yet the faith that justifies ought to produce changed character as a result. Virtue, then, is a way of putting into action the commitment we make when we give our life to Christ.

After virtue comes knowledge. It is possible to be a person of faith and even of virtue, and end up with a well-intentioned yet seriously misguided devotion. God recognizes that part of our growth comes from study, learning who God is and who we are, so we can make better decisions that lead to deeper maturity. Knowledge, at some level, is essential to a deeper Christian life.

Yet what do I do with all that knowledge? Well, knowledge is only helpful when we act on it, which may be why Peter next mentions self-control. In self-control I seek to make conscious decisions in how I live my life based on the knowledge I have gained. This is essential for lasting spiritual transformation. I believe self-control is important as well for another reason: knowledge often has the tendency to puff up the knower. It is all to easy to fall into pride as a result of study. One manifestation of that pride is what 2 Timothy 3:6-7 speaks of—that some people are always learning and never coming to a knowledge of the truth. They lack the humility to accept the truth when they see it. They lack the humility to act on and accept what they know—with all its limitations—because they want the complete answer. The problem is we’re never going to able to explain everything about God. We need self-control as a way of exercising humility in our knowledge.

Peter next mentions steadfastness or patience. If we aren’t steadfast in self-control it isn’t good for much. Most people can be self-controlled for a short time, but how many of us show commitment in character transformation not just for a day or a week, but over the long haul of many years of following Christ?

Next Peter adds godliness. While virtue was mentioned previously, Peter is probably thinking of a deeper level of devotion here. He is describing a person whose life is characterized by the fear of the Lord at a profound level.

The fear of the Lord and godliness, however, can never be content to focus on love for God to the exclusion of love for others. Peter next mentions brotherly affection as a way of pointing out that devotion to God has be express itself in tangible ways in our relationships with others. I think it is instructive that Peter mentions brotherly affection before love. It is easy to think we love someone, but brotherly affection forces me to be more concrete. In what ways am I really expressing to others in the body of Christ that I care about them like I care for family?

The thing about family is that we are born into an obligation that we didn’t choose. It’s common to have family members that we would never relate to were it not the fact that they are simply part of the family. While it’s not exactly the same, there is a close parallel in the church. When we are born again, we are not just adopted as God’s children; we are given brothers and sisters. God places us in a new family, the church. Part of what that means is learning to love the particular body in which God has placed us, even in its imperfections. We often have to lay aside our preferences and desires and commit ourselves to this group of people as they are. When we truly do this, love often flows naturally as the result. When we focus on the tangible, concrete expressions of brotherly affection, God brings the heart change in the process.

My question for all of you is a simple one: What is the weakest link in this chain in your life? How does that weak link affect the rest of your spiritual life and keep you from loving well? I know that in my own life my weakest points are self-control, especially in certain aspects of time management, and brotherly affection. I don’t set out to fail to love others, but I often fall short because I haven’t taken the concrete steps to express my concern for others and intentionally make space for them in my life. With my personality, I have to be extremely intentional or it won’t happen.

I also want to ask a question of all the seminarians here this morning: We see in verse 8 that Peter doesn’t want his readers to be ineffective and unfruitful in their knowledge of Christ. I have said that this refers in the first instance to the knowledge of Christ when we come to know him in our conversion. But when it comes to the other aspect of knowledge, the specifically academic knowledge that you have gained by studying here, what fruit have you seen in your life? When your friends or family or spouse look at your life before coming to the seminary and your life right now, would they say that all of the knowledge that you have gained has produced in your character this fruit that Peter speaks of?

It is easy in an academic environment—for both students and professors— to focus on an alternative chain, where we focus on adding other things to knowledge. One could say that the academic chain goes something like this: to your faith, add knowledge; to knowledge, good writing; to good writing, critical thinking; to critical thinking, academic rigor; to academic rigor, academic degrees; to academic degrees, peer review of your work; to peer review, publications; and to publications, becoming a tenured professor.

There’s nothing wrong with these things in and of themselves. But if your knowledge isn’t also leading down the path to love, it can easily be idolatry.

Peter concludes this section with a final exhortation to perseverance in verses 10-11. Literally translated, he says, “Make every effort to make your calling and election valid (or in force)”. I’m not going to enter here into the debate over perseverance between Calvinists, Arminians, and others on this point, but I will say one thing. Nearly all Christians would agree, whatever their perspective, that perseverance in the faith is necessary for final salvation, apart from their differences about what is implied about one’s initial faith or lack thereof when one doesn’t persevere. It’s not enough to just say a prayer, get yourself covered, and then live however you feel like. A person living like that ought not to have any subjective assurance of their calling and election because they are blatantly ignoring God.

Peter gives us a very strong and very interesting promise here. He says in verse 10 that “if you practice these qualities you will never fall.” In Greek, he expresses it in the most emphatic way possible, using a double negative (ou me) plus the aorist subjunctive followed by another word (pote) to emphasize that this won’t happen. In other words, it is something like, “if you practice these qualities, you will most certainly never ever fall.” This may be the clearest statement in the Bible on how to persevere in the faith. Knowledge can be important, but much more central in the chain of virtues is having deep roots in character. That is the absolutely essential foundation for perseverance.

When one does that, Peter says that “in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” The word for “richly provided” is the same word that Peter used in verse 5 for “add,” but in the passive voice. In other words, when you add these things to your faith, it will be added to you (by God) entrance into the kingdom. It would be easy to read this and fall into the error of thinking that Peter is teaching that our salvation ultimately depends on  us—as the semi-Pelagian heresy teaches, man takes the first step of faith and God responds with his grace. But that would be to forget the context of the passage, for the faith that we are to add these virtues to is a faith that we have received from God “by the righteousness of our God and savior Jesus Christ” (1:1). Our faith is a divine work, not a human one. Moreover, verse 3 told us that everything that pertains to life and godliness has been given us by God’s power. Yes, we are called and responsible to obey. But with that call comes the divine enabling, and for that reason salvation is 100% the work of God from first to last.

Peter, then, is calling us to not be a forgetful people—forgetful of the forgiveness we have received, of the promises we have in Christ, and of the greatness of the salvation that awaits us when experience the total transformation that will make us fully like Christ. For that reason, Peter calls us to holiness based on the reality that holiness is something that is possible by God’s grace and supremely positive, because it is nothing less than a progressive participation in the fullness of salvation, when one day we leave these mortal bodies behind and experience the promise of participating in the divine nature, being conformed to the image of Christ, our God and Savior. 

Preaching in chapel.

Part of the student body, faculty, and staff during the sermon.

Devocional: Un tiempo para recordar (Salmo 103)

Este devocional es un mensaje que di para un encuentro de egresados del seminario, para animarnos a reflexionar en la obra del Señor en nuestras vidas. Espero que pueda ser de bendición para algunos más por medio de este blog. / This devotional is a message that I gave for a meeting of graduates of the Biblical Seminary of Colombia, to encourage them to reflect on the work of the Lord in our lives. I hope that it can be a blessing for some others through this blog.

Pocas veces en la Biblia Dios cumple sus propósitos y promesas en una manera sencilla. Vemos esto en la historia de Israel. Dios promete una tierra a Abraham. Pero primero sus descendientes van a Egipto y son esclavos por cuatro siglos. Israel regresa del exilio. Pero no experimentan en su plenitud las gloriosas promesas de la restauración hechas por Jeremías, Ezequiel y los profetas. ¿Qué pasó?

A veces, como parte de esta gran historia de Dios con su pueblo, vemos las mismas vueltas en la pequeña historia de cada creyente. Por ejemplo, Jeremías le es fiel a Dios, pero no cambia el hecho de que lo ven como un aguafiestas, lo echan en una cisterna, lo llevan a Egipto cuando dice que no vayan allí, etc., etc.

Cuando buscamos identificar la mano providencial de Dios en nuestras vidas, tenemos que reconocer que nuestra parte en la gran historia es una parte pequeñita. Somos como personajes menores que aparecen en el cuarto acto de un drama en cinco actos. Entramos, desempeñamos nuestra parte, nos vamos, y Dios sigue obrando para lograr sus propósitos.

Descubrir la mano de Dios en las complejidades y altibajos de la vida es, al final de cuentas, un asunto de la sabiduría, de ver la vida desde la perspectiva del temor del Señor y reconocer como él toma las vueltas y desviaciones y las hace parte del camino. Entonces, ¿cómo llegamos a ser sabios? Bueno, no hay una fórmula. Pero creo que uno de los requisitos previos esenciales de la sabiduría es recordar—recordar la mano de Dios en la historia pequeña de mi propia vida y en la historia grande de su pueblo. Esto me da la perspectiva que necesito para seguir adelante en el futuro.

El texto donde quiero que reflexionemos un poquito en esta noche es Salmo 103. Comienza llamándonos a recordar la mano de Dios en estos dos ámbitos: versículos 1-5 enfocan en la historia pequeña de cada creyente:

¹ Alaba, alma mía, al Señor;

alabe todo mi ser su santo nombre.

² Alaba, alma mía, al Señor,

y no olvides ninguno de sus beneficios.

³ Él perdona todos tus pecados

y sana todas tus dolencias;

⁴ él rescata tu vida del sepulcro

y te cubre de amor y compasión;

⁵ él colma de bienes tu vida

y te rejuvenece como a las águilas.

Versículos 6-7 enfocan en la historia grande del pueblo de Dios:

⁶ El Señor hace justicia

y defiende a todos los oprimidos.

⁷ Dio a conocer sus caminos a Moisés;

reveló sus obras al pueblo de Israel.

Lo que vemos después es una meditación en el carácter de Dios y del ser humano. Versículos 8-14 nos hablan de la constancia del carácter de Dios. Versículos 15-18 nos hablan del transitorio del ser humano.

⁸ El Señor es clemente y compasivo,

lento para la ira y grande en amor.

⁹ No sostiene para siempre su querella

ni guarda rencor eternamente.

¹⁰ No nos trata conforme a nuestros pecados

ni nos paga según nuestras maldades.

¹¹ Tan grande es su amor por los que le temen

como alto es el cielo sobre la tierra.

¹² Tan lejos de nosotros echó nuestras transgresiones

como lejos del oriente está el occidente.

¹³ Tan compasivo es el Señor con los que le temen

como lo es un padre con sus hijos.

¹⁴ Él conoce nuestra condición;

sabe que somos de barro.

¹⁵ El hombre es como la hierba,

sus días florecen como la flor del campo:

¹⁶ sacudida por el viento,

desaparece sin dejar rastro alguno.

¹⁷ Pero el amor del Señor es eterno

y siempre está con los que le temen;

su justicia está con los hijos de sus hijos,

¹⁸ con los que cumplen su pacto

y se acuerdan de sus preceptos

para ponerlos por obra.

Versículos 11 y 17 nos dicen que la persona sabia, la persona que le teme al Señor, reconoce esas dos cosas. Juan Calvino famosamente dijo en el primer párrafo de la Institución: toda la sabiduría radica en dos cosas, el conocimiento que el ser humano debe tener de Dios y el conocimiento que debe tener de sí mismo. Salmo 103 nos insta enfocar allí para ser personas que temen al Señor—meditar en el carácter constante de Dios y contrastarlo con lo pasajero que somos.  

De todo lo que el salmo dice sobre el carácter de Dios, que debemos recordar cuando vemos cómo Dios ha obrado, hay dos versículos que siempre se destacan cuando leo este salmo: versículos 13-14. Dios es un padre misericordioso y compasivo que reconoce que somos de barro, que somos polvo.

Cuando reflexionas en tu tiempo desde el seminario hasta hoy, ¿cómo has visto la compasión paternal de Dios en las circunstancias de tu vida? Lo que más me anima de estos versículos es que Dios, como un padre compasivo, nos trata de acuerdo con nuestros límites. Él se acuerda que somos de barro. ¿Qué quiere decir esto? A veces implica la disciplina. Dios nos lleva al punto donde no podemos evitar trabajar aspectos de nuestro carácter. Otras veces Dios reconoce que necesitamos crecer o madurar en cierta parte de la vida para prepararnos para cierto ministerio. Lo que encontramos es que las prioridades de Dios en nuestras vidas pueden ser muy distintas a las nuestras.

No sé como ha sido la experiencia de cada uno de ustedes. Algunos salieron del seminario hace poco tiempo; otros llevan décadas en el ministerio desde que pasaran por las aulas acá. En mi propia vida, terminé mi maestría hace un poco más de cinco años, pero si alguien me hubiera dicho como serían los siguientes cinco años, yo hubiera pensado que era un plan un poco raro. Nunca hubiera escogido el camino que ha trazado mi vida desde que terminara mis estudios como seminarista. Pero cuando doy un alto y recuerdo, veo que Dios ha sido un Padre compasivo, que sabe que soy de barro y me trata así.

Cuando llegué a mi último año de mi maestría pasé por un año difícil. Todo me iba bien en lo académico y estaba haciendo mi práctica enseñando griego a los seminaristas del primer año. Muchos me animaban a seguir estudiando y hacer un doctorado. Pero en mi interior sabía que había llegado a un nivel de agotamiento tan grande que no podía hacerlo, ni físicamente ni espiritualmente. Les dije a algunos amigos que estudiar un doctorado en ese momento hubiera sido destructivo para mi relación con el Señor. Al otro lado, estaba pasando por algunas circunstancias personales difíciles que me forzaron aprender qué significaba confiar en Dios cuando él no respondía a mis oraciones constantes en la manera que quería que lo hiciera.

Pero cuando recuerdo esas experiencias, ahora puedo ver que aun las experiencias dolorosas eran parte del plan que Dios tenía. Mis experiencias no se comparan a lo que muchos de ustedes han vivido. Pero, para una persona de la clase media norteamericana que había vivido una vida cómoda, era un momento para despertar y ver el impacto práctico de mi fe en un momento cuando fue difícil entender los propósitos de Dios. Como C. S. Lewis dice, el dolor es el megáfono de Dios para despertar a un mundo dormido. Yo necesitaba eso al nivel personal. En medio del éxito académico, Dios me llamó a enfocar en mi ser—¿Quién era en Cristo? ¿Cómo estaba mi relación con él? Y, ¿por qué importaba todo el conocimiento que había obtenido?

Varias de las experiencias que tenía después de terminar mi maestría no encajan bien en el perfil ideal de un egresado de una institución académica. Si mi seminario me hubiera dado una encuesta sobre mis experiencias laborales y la situación económica en mucho de ese tiempo, probablemente yo hubiera proporcionado unos de los datos que más dañaban el promedio de la institución. Pasé un tiempo sin empleo y luego con empleo escaso, cuando los pocos ahorros que tenía desaparecieron. Luego, pasé un verano de un año y otro ocho meses del próximo trabajando como cajero en una tienda. Llegué a ser ayudante del carnicero, haciendo pollo rostizado dos veces en la semana, no exactamente la mejor manera de usar mi maestría. Y, por razones complejas, quedé sin seguro médico por un año y medio, sabiendo que con cualquier emergencia estaría en urgencias y muy posiblemente en bancarrota.

Estas experiencias no eran parte del currículo que yo hubiera escogido para mi vida. Pero cuando recuerdo lo que ha pasado, veo la mano de Dios. No una mano que me lleva al título académico más alto lo más rápido que sea posible, sino la mano de Dios obrando para enseñarme una cosa: que Cristo es suficiente en todo, y que esto tiene que penetrar mi vida a tal punto que no es simplemente un dato teológico sino más bien una realidad vivida.

Lo que he aprendido es que en cualquier prueba, Dios está allí como un padre compasivo que reconoce mis límites—y los reconoce a tal punto que a veces se mete en mi vida con su disciplina, empujándome a situaciones donde tengo que enfrentar los puntos más pecaminosos, débiles y quebrantados de mi vida, porque él no quiere que logre un éxito en los ojos del mundo—en el empleo, en las relaciones sentimentales, o lo que sea—y que quede malsano, con los mismos problemas de carácter o careciendo de confianza en él.

Entonces, quisiera dejarlos con algunas preguntas para reflexionar. ¿En cuáles maneras necesitas recordar la misericordia y gracia de Dios en tu vida, en todos los altibajos del ministerio o de la vida personal que han pasado? ¿Cómo ha tomado Dios esas desviaciones y vueltas de tu vida para hacerlas parte del camino que él tiene para ti? Y cuando ves esta obra de Dios, ¿cuáles son las prioridades que Dios ha tenido para tu vida en los últimos años? ¿Cómo ha estado enseñándote? Por último, ¿cómo puedes seguir adelante, no olvidando lo que Dios te ha enseñado?

Proverbios nos dice que el principio de la sabiduría es el temor del Señor. Y para temerle a él, tengo que recordar quién él es y quién soy yo, dejando que él enderece el camino que está por delante, tomando todas la vueltas y desviaciones que perecen ser pérdidas de tiempo y energía, viendo que él las toma y las hace parte del camino para cumplir los propósitos que tiene como nuestro Padre compasivo. Amén.