No Fail Recipe

Take time to read 2 Peter 1: 1-11 …..if you do these things

you will never stumble!" (2 Peter 1:10)

Do you have a favorite recipe? Most women do and some men too. My wife has a recipe for something called 'upside-down ham and pineapple casserole’; it is one of my favorites. There are certain things she has to put in it though in order to get the taste that I enjoy and get the most satisfaction from. It is easy to make and is considered a 'no-fail' recipe - that is, if you follow the directions exactly. We've shared it with a few friends, and most of them have had good results. One or two, however, said the recipe was no good. Later we discovered that they omitted some ingredients or substituted others.

The Apostle Peter gave us the recipe for effective Christian living. The two main ingredients God provides are His divine power (2 Peter 1:3), and his precious promises (2 Peter 1:4). As we thoroughly blend His power and promises into our believing and living, we'll be more like Christ.

Then Peter listed the ingredients we must add to our faith: virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love (2 Peter 1:5-7). If we include each of these, we'll not be unfruitful, nor will we stumble in our walk with the Lord (2 Peter 1:8). Anyone who omits these ingredients is shortsighted even blind, and "has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins." (2 Peter 1:9).

We cannot change God's ingredients and then blame His recipe when things go wrong. Instead, we must follow His instructions diligently, for it is then, and only then, that His recipe brings the spiritual success that we long for. We need to always remember that obedience to God's word is always the recipe for spiritual success. True success must always be defined as doing the will (or following the recipe) of God!

Mmmm…. Think about it!!