The Pathway and its End

• 1 min. read • grade level: 14

We are called to follow Christ, and to glorify Him. The Apostle Peter, in speaking of this blessed pathway, enumerates in his second epistle the moral qualities which should characterize us (2 Pet. 1:5-7⁵And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; ⁶And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; ⁷And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. (2 Peter 1:5‑7)). And in the end of verse 10 he adds, "If ye do these things, ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." One may compare the entrance into the glory of the kingdom of our Lord, of the Christian who practices these things, to a fine vessel entering the home harbor after a long voyage, deeply laden with gold and precious stones. How different to one who, though saved by faith, pursues a pathway of negligence, to find at the end of his career, though he himself is preserved in mercy by the grace of God, his cargo (so to speak) is valueless and only fit to be burned (1 Cor. 3:15¹⁵If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. (1 Corinthians 3:15)). May the gracious Lord exercise every soul who is satisfied with the fatness of His house, that he may be found practicing these things, so blessedly exhibited to perfection in the pathway of Christ Himself, while he looks for the accomplishment in the eternal future of the exceeding great and precious promises of God.

But do not be surprised, if you serve the Lord and pursue such a pathway, should you meet in some measure, or in some way, with a similar experience to the Apostle Paul's (2 Cor. 11:23-27²³Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. ²⁴Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. ²⁵Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; ²⁶In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; ²⁷In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. (2 Corinthians 11:23‑27)). All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (2 Tim. 3:12¹²Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. (2 Timothy 3:12)). It is impossible to be faithful to Him, and not suffer in some form or other at the hand of man.

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