How to Guarantee a Productive and Effective Life!

I am indebted to Boyce Evans, an Evangelist whom I met in the late 1970's while he was preaching at the First Baptist Church of Hammond, LA, for this idea. He gave me a small paperback book he had written by a similar title. It was, essentially, a Bible study of II Peter 1:5-11. This passage outlines a list of qualities that, if incorperated into your life in abundance, will surely result in a productive and effective life. "For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." II Peter 1:8 This sounds like a guarantee to me. I want to know these qualities and to make sure they are in my life so that I can have the guarantee to be productive and effective. There are several lists in the New Testament of desirable qualities that we, as Christ followers, want in our lives. One is found in Galatians 5:22-23 known as the fruit of the Spirit. There is also a list in I Timothy 6:11-12 in which Paul shares a list of traits worth including in one's life.

For the next several weeks, I want to share with you these qualities in a series of blog posts. In II Peter 1:5, the Scripture states, "Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge," The basis of all these qualities begins with faith. It should be known that absolutely nothing can replace a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. Certainly this passage does not convey that anything needs to be added to our faith in terms of justification. Jesus paid it all on Calvary. When we accept Him as Lord, we are completely saved. Our sins are paid in full. However, the qualities that follow are growth steps necessary to become as significant, productive, and effective as the Lord would want us to be. We will begin looking at these qualities next week.