7 Qualities That Will Open Your Mind and Soul to God

A clear path to living each day for God with a reward and progressively maturing in Christ is laid out in 2 Peter verses 5-8 reading from "the Message" Bible:

5 So don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, 6 alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, 7 warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. 8 With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. 9 Without these qualities you can't see what's right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.


This path ends with a sure guarantee :

"With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus."

It Starts With Faith and Ends With Love
These stepping stones are book-ended by two powerful concepts. Notice "basic faith" starts the effort and love ends the effort. There are seven steps listed - seven being the perfect number of God. Some have called these the seven "fruits of faith".

Faith in God is Only the Beginning
As you can see getting "saved" is just the beginning. You received salvation as a gift and took a step of faith. This was given to you. You didn't have to strive or work for it. Salvation is a gift you can rest in. God is good and doesn't take away the gifts he gives us. However, stopping at salvation would leave you 7 steps behind where God would desire you to be.

How to Know God Better
Looking at the first step we are encouraged to:

1:5

make every effort to apply the benefits of these promises to your life. Then your faith will produce a life of moral excellence. A life of moral excellence leads to knowing God better. (NLT)

Moral excellence can be known as "goodness" (NIV), "virtue" (NKJ), and "good character" (MSG). Virtue, by definition, is "the quality of doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong". Looking at the Latin root of the word we see that from "virts" we derive "manliness, excellence, goodness" and from vir, we derive "man".

I understand this as "doing the right thing". A virtuous person, when faced with a fork in the road does what people with "good character" do. We also see an element of courage represented here. We cannot have "manliness" or "virtue" without the courage to do the right thing. With our ego-centric minds isn't the easy road out usually the wrong thing to do? So their is a demand to "step up" here and embrace the challenge of "good character".

Basically, if we make right decisions and strive to have a good character the Bible promises we will "know God better" (1:5). How does this happen? It's like taking out the trash in our lives - something we do regularly at the place we live. When we first get saved we have a lot of junk and baggage and clutter hanging around in our hearts and minds. Our thought patterns at this point were based on our foundation of what we thought was the best way to live. For some, we were "good" people before we were saved, for many others we were selfish and ego-driven. Now that we are counted with God, we can actually see the trash and baggage in our lives. We were blind to it before. This demands action. What do you do to a messy room? You clean it up. Dirty clothes go to the laundry room. Clean clothes get put in their proper places. Random dishes are taken to the kitchen. The dust is swept up, things are put in order. And now the room is presentable to any friends or family that would come over. Same with God. It says that we will "know God better" (1:5) when we step out to develop "good character". God is welcome in a life of "good character". He can come in and leads us to the next level which is "spiritual understanding".

Chapter 2

¹⁷ For this reason he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. ¹⁸ Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Chapter 4

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. ¹⁶ Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Jesus - Called our brother and sister. Called our hight priest - merciful and faithful. He is able to empathize with our weaknesses. He has suffered with the same temptations. Therefore, let us approach God with confidence that we might receive grace and mercy in time of need!

Chapter 3

¹² See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. ¹³ But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called "Today," so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. ¹⁴ We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold firmly till the end our original conviction. ¹⁵ As has just been said:
"Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion." ^[c]

^{Chapter 4}

¹ Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. ² For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.

¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. ¹⁶ Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. ¹⁹ We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, ²⁰ where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf.

Chapter 5

⁷ During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. ⁸ Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered

⁹ and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him

Chapter 6

been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, ⁵ who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age ⁶

¹² We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. ¹⁹ We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, ²⁰ where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf.

The purpose of waiting and oaths as described in MH commentary....

¹⁴ saying, "I will surely bless you and give you many descendants." ^{[d] 15} And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.

¹⁶ People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. ¹⁷ Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath.

From Matthew Henry Commentary -

Abraham, in due time, obtained the promise. It was made good to him after he had patiently endured.

[1.] There is always an interval, and sometimes a long one, between the promise and the performance.

[2.] That interval is a trying time to believers, whether they have patience to endure to the end.

[3.] Those who patiently endure shall assuredly obtain the blessedness promised, as sure as Abraham did.

[4.] The end and design of an oath is to make the promise sure, and to encourage those to whom it is made to wait with patience till the time for performance comes,

Genesis 14

17 After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and his allied kings, the king of Sodom came out to greet him in the Valley of Shaveh, the King's Valley. 18 Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine - he was priest of The High God - 19 and blessed him: Blessed be Abram by The High God, Creator of Heaven and Earth. 20 And blessed be The High God, who handed your enemies over to you. Abram gave him a tenth of all the recovered plunder.

Hebrews 7:1

¹ This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, ² and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, the name Melchizedek means "king of righteousness"; then also, "king of Salem" means "king of peace." ³ Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.

Matthew Henry Commentary

He brought forth bread and wine to refresh Abraham and his servants when they were weary; he gave as a king, and blessed as a priest. Thus our Lord Jesus meets his people in their spiritual conflicts, refreshes them, renews their strength, and blesses them.

Chapter 7

²⁶ Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. ²⁷ Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. ²⁸ For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.

Letting Go

We are taught to strive, to chase our goals ambitiously, and to hold tightly what we've earned. We are encouraged to be self-sufficient and independent - leaders, not followers. This is all well and god until we run into the grace of God. In Mark 10 Jesus turned the tables with a young man that had done well all his life - seemingly ready for the kingdom of God:

17 As he went out into the street, a man came running up, greeted him with great reverence, and asked, "Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?" 18 Jesus said, "Why are you calling me good? No one is good, only God. 19 You know the commandments: Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie, don't cheat, honor your father and mother." 20 He said, "Teacher, I have - from my youth - kept them all!"

Enthusiaticaly, the young man had kept all the traditional rules laid out and was ready to be acknowledged by Christ, but then Christ challenged the kingdom he built and said "give it up":

21 Jesus looked him hard in the eye - and loved him! He said, "There's one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me." 22 The man's face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go.

We see the young man was "holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go". Jesus went on to say:

23 Looking at his disciples, Jesus said, "Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who 'have it all' to enter God's kingdom?" 24 The disciples couldn't believe what they were hearing, but Jesus kept on: "You can't imagine how difficult.

When we have it all together on our own accord - the control, the right answer, the right plan, the right vision, the proper execution, just as this young man had - God doesn't have control. It is common sense that you can only have one boss, one person to answer to. Anything more creates confusion.

Matthew 6:24

"You can't worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you'll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other.

That is where Jesus lays down the challenge. As we read earlier on in Mark 10:

15 Mark this: Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in." 16 Then, gathering the children up in his arms, he laid his hands of blessing on them.

Jesus challenges us to lay it all down, just like a child. To let go - lovingly and trustingly - into the arms of God. To server Him alone, knowing that just as a good father provides for his children, so our Father in heaven will never let us go to waste. He will always be there for us right from the beginning and through until the end - eternally and forever.

Who do you say Jesus Is?

Common ways people trip:

In the Message Bible, Mark Chapter 6, Jesus preaches to his own hometown. It's interesting to note they first noticed something special about him:
6:2 On the Sabbath, he gave a lecture in the meeting place. He made a real hit, impressing everyone. "We had no idea he was this good!" they said. "How did he get so wise all of a sudden, get such ability?

In the next breath they turned on him:
6:3 But in the next breath they were cutting him down: "He's just a carpenter - Mary's boy. We've known him since he was a kid. We know his brothers, James, Justus, Jude, and Simon, and his sisters. Who does he think he is?" They tripped over what little they knew about him and fell, sprawling. And they never got any further.


Later on in the same chapter, we see Harod, a ruling Roman in awe of John the Baptist, Jesus predecessor.
6:20 because Herod was in awe of John. Convinced that he was a holy man, he gave him special treatment. Whenever he listened to him he was miserable with guilt - and yet he couldn't stay away. Something in John kept pulling him back.


Harod saw the Spirit of God operating through John and was moved. When push came to shove; however, Harod's own words and pride before the people landed him in big trouble:

6:26 That sobered the king up fast. But unwilling to lose face with his guests, he caved in and let her have her wish. 27 The king sent the executioner off to the prison with orders to bring back John's head. He went, cut off John's head, 28 brought it back on a platter, and presented it to the girl, who gave it to her mother.


Here we see two clear examples of people having an encounter with God via John the Baptist and Jesus. Both Harod and the people of Jesus' home town knew there was something special going on there; however, they stumbled - unable to make the full real committment. It's a staunch warning and a sad picture when people are this close yet so far. Jesus clearly illustrates this principle in the "story of the scattered seed" in Mark 4.

4:14 "The farmer plants the Word. 15 Some people are like the seed that falls on the hardened soil of the road. No sooner do they hear the Word than Satan snatches away what has been planted in them. 16 "And some are like the seed that lands in the gravel. When they first hear the Word, they respond with great enthusiasm. 17 But there is such shallow soil of character that when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it. 18 "The seed cast in the weeds represents the ones who hear the kingdom news 19 but are overwhelmed with worries about all the things they have to do and all the things they want to get. The stress strangles what they heard, and nothing comes of it. 20 "But the seed planted in the good earth represents those who hear the Word, embrace it, and produce a harvest beyond their wildest dreams."

Be the person in Mark 4:20. Embrace the words of Jesus. Surrender your pride (don't be like Harod), surrender what you think you know (don't be like Jesus' hometown), and embrace Christ to truly live!!!