DILIGENCE, AGAIN

DILIGENCE, AGAIN
As I was working on some things, I came across this article I wrote almost three years ago, concerning DILIGENCE. It is something to think about as we enter a new year. I will include passages in a couple of comments boxes.

God calls His people to DILIGENCE, but many never fulfill their calling because they are gripped by negligence or have chosen the way of indolence. Even diligence, when misguided, can lead to greatness in evil. Just ask Herod the Great (Mt. 2:7, 8, 16). It is often diligence that separates between success and failure, greatness and mediocrity.

Some people are diligent concerning money, academics, business, sports, the arts or governing. Those who are diligent may rise to either meager success or exceptionalism. How sad that some people (especially Christians) are either Enveloped by Negligence or Ensnared by Indolence, rather than Enabled by Diligence. It is not that they always fall to the depths of failure, it is that they never rise above mediocrity; but the outcome is the same.

Negligence and indolence in the spiritual life is not faith in God, it is presumption on the grace of God. Workless faith is worthless faith. Biblical faith is active, diligent.

It is never too early to See Your Desire, Set Your Course or Strive For Success; and though it can become too late to accomplish all your dreams, it is never too late to abandon negligence and indolence, and embrace diligence.

Diligence should be in every area of our lives. We should be diligent in personal development, interpersonal relationships, academic/intellectual accomplishment, vocational pursuits, and our SPIRITUAL GROWTH. (see Passages below).

CONSIDER THESE PASSAGES (1 OF 2)...
Exodus 15:26
(26) And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.

Deuteronomy 4:9
(9) Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons;

Deuteronomy 6:4-9
(4) Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
(5) And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
(6) And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
(7) And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
(8) And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
(9) And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

Deuteronomy 6:17-19
(17) Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.
(18) And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers,
(19) To cast out all thine enemies from before thee, as the LORD hath spoken.

Deuteronomy 11:13-28
(13) And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,
(14) That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.
(15) And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.
(16) Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;
(17) And then the LORD'S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you.
(18) Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
(19) And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
(20) And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:
(21) That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
(22) For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him;
(23) Then will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves.
(24) Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be.
(25) There shall no man be able to stand before you: for the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you.
(26) Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;
(27) A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day:
(28) And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.

Deuteronomy 28:1-6
(1) And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:
(2) And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.
(3) Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.
(4) Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
(5) Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.
(6) Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

Joshua 22:5
(5) But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.

CONSIDER THESE PASSAGES (2 OF 2)...
Psalms 119:4
(4) Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.

Proverbs 4:20-27
(20) My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.
(21) Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.
(22) For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
(23) Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
(24) Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.
(25) Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
(26) Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
(27) Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.

Proverbs 13:4
(4) The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.

Hebrews 6:10-12
(10) For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
(11) And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:
(12) That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Hebrews 11:6
(6) But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Hebrews 12:14-15
(14) Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
(15) Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

2 Peter 1:3-11
(3) According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
(4) Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
(5) And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
(6) And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
(7) And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
(8) For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(9) But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
(10) Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
(11) For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 3:13-14
(13) Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
(14) Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.