Make Your Calling & Election Sure
Joe Slater
Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble             --2 Peter 1:10
	Last week’s article pertained to our diligence in seeking divine approval. Closely related to that is Peter’s exhortation to make our calling and election sure.
	God calls people through the gospel                     (2 Thessalonians 2:13). Those who respond in trusting, obedient faith are “added to the Lord” (Acts 5:14). Because Jesus is the “chosen” or “elect” Servant (Matthew 12:18; Isaiah 42:1), those who are in Him are also elect (chosen). Part of God’s eternal plan of redemption was that the elect would be those who are “in Christ” (Ephesians 1:4).
	Though God is not seeking ways to reject us, the fact remains that we can forfeit our status as God’s elect. If not, why would we need to make our election sure? If, as some claim, a child of God cannot stumble and fall, why would Peter put an “if” on the front of his statement: “If you do these things, you will never stumble”? In view of this condition, we ought to be diligent in doing “these things.”
	So, then, what “things” are we do be doing diligently? In context, this refers to the list of items Peter has just written in verses 5-7, commonly known as the “Christian graces.” Peter began that list by emphasizing diligence. Within the context of faith, we are to be diligent in developing the qualities of virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly-kindness, and love. If we do, Peter assures us, we will be busy and productive for the Lord (v. 8). But if we are lacking in these areas, we will be spiritually near-sighted, forgetting even that Jesus cleansed us from sin (and thus placing our salvation in jeopardy).
	Just as we diligently seek God’s approval by holding a straight course in His word, so we diligently make our calling and election sure by growing in the attributes Peter catalogs. In no way will doing this earn or merit our salvation; it will, however, help us to be faithful, and thus to have access to God’s grace through Jesus Christ. Through this grace, “an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (v. 11).
	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Did You Know?
	There are 1189 chapters in the Bible. Originally the Bible was not written in chapters and verses. Chapter divisions were made by Archbishop Langton for convenience.
	The shortest verse in the English New Testament is John 11:35, “Jesus wept.”
	The Bible was written over a span of 1500+ years.
	The Bible was written in three languages: the Old Testament in Hebrew and a little bit of Aramaic; the New Testament in Greek.
	The longest and shortest chapters in the Bible are both in Psalms, and just two chapters apart. The longest is Psalm 119, while the shortest is Psalm 117.
	By reading for just half an hour per day, you can read through the Bible in one year.
	--Via House-too-House/Heart-to-Heart
Have You Not Read?
	At least four times in Matthew, Jesus asked, “Have you not read?” The people of Jesus’ day did not yet have the New Testament, but they were expected to be students of the Old Testament. Today, of course, we have God’s full revelation – both Old and New Testaments. Just as the Lord expected the people in the first century to read the Scriptures, we are to read and study the Bible today. Consider what Jesus’ question implies:
	Asking “Have you not read?” implies the importance of Bible study. Only through Bible study can we learn how to be saved from sin, and how to worship and serve the Lord in a way that pleases Him.
	Asking that question also implies that Bible study is personal. The question itself is personal: “Have you not read?” It places responsibility upon each individual. The question is not whether the preacher has read, or whether one’s grandmother or one’s spouse has read. Rather, the Lord asked, “Have you not read?”
	Asking the question implies that Bible study is profitable. Surely Jesus did not expect people to do that which was a waste of time! Bible study is profitable because God’s word is powerful. It provides spiritual light as we strive toward heaven. “Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).
	Let us never be content, when asked a Bible question, to say, “Well, I don’t know much about the Bible, but I believe . . .” The Lord has given us His word that we might know His will. However, we must hear, learn, study, and read. That is, we must spend time with God’s word. Make it a personal application of the question: “Have you not read”?
	--Mark Lindley (Ripley, MS) via Old Paths