This is the third blog in the 2 Peter 1 series. We have already walked through the six gifts God has already given us, and the two outcomes that hinge on whether the Christian climbs the ladder of growth or sits at the bottom of it.
Now we start to climb.
2 Peter 1:5
“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue.”
The very first word out of Peter’s mouth, before any of the eight virtues he is about to stack on faith, is the word diligence. And he says give “all” of it. There is no half-diligent Christian who climbs this ladder. Peter says the man who climbs is the man who is giving all diligence to climb.
What Diligence Is
Webster’s 1828 dictionary defines diligence as steady application in business of any kind, constant effort to accomplish what is undertaken, the opposite of slothfulness, negligence, and idleness.
Diligence is steady and constant. It is not a burst of energy on Monday and a collapse on Tuesday. It is the same effort, day after day, on the day you feel like it and on the day you do not.
The opposite of diligence is laziness or slothfulness.
The Picture of Diligence in the Bible
If you want to see what diligence looks like in flesh and blood, read the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah heard that the wall of Jerusalem was broken down and the gates were burned with fire, and he went to the king, got permission, gathered the men, and rebuilt the wall in fifty-two days. With a sword in one hand and a tool in the other. He would not come down off the wall for any reason. When his enemies tried to call him down to a meeting, he sent back the answer, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?” Nehemiah 6:3.
That is diligence. A great work and an answer ready for every voice that wants to call him down.
The Christian life is exactly the same way. God has put you on a wall, and the devil has people calling you down off it every single day. The diligent saint stays on the wall, and the lazy saint comes down for every meeting.
The Lord said something hard in Luke 9:62. “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Picture a farmer out in the field with a plow and a horse. His job is to cut a straight row through the dirt. The way he keeps that row straight is by picking a mark out at the far end of the field and locking his eyes on it. He puts his hand on the plow, fixes his eyes on the mark, and walks. As long as he keeps looking forward, the row stays straight. But the second he looks back, the plow drifts.
He does not even feel it at first. By the time he gets to the end of the field, the row is crooked.
The Christian life is the same way. I cannot keep looking back at my old life, my old friends, my old habits, and the things I used to do, and expect to walk straight with the Lord. Every time I turn my head, the plow drifts. Every time I let my mind wander back to what I left behind, I cut a crooked row.
Diligence means putting my hand to the plow and not lifting it. Eyes on Christ, and hand on the handle. The man who half-plows brings in a half-crop. The man who is diligent plows the field to the end and comes home with a harvest.
Diligence Is Required to Receive Blessings From God
Hebrews 11:6, “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.”
God does not reward the casual seeker. He rewards the diligent seeker. The Bible says He rewards the one that diligently seeks. There is a kind of seeking that does not get rewarded. The man who picks up his Bible once a month, prays when he is in trouble, and shows up at church when nothing better is going on is seeking, but he is not diligently seeking. The man who shows up early and stays late, who is in his Bible every morning, who prays, who keeps coming back, that is the diligent seeker God rewards.
Diligence Leads to Assurance
2 Peter 1:10, “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.”
Your salvation is not in question on God’s end. It was settled in eternity. But your assurance of it on your end is built by diligence. Peter says if you give diligence to add the eight virtues he just listed, you will never fall.
The Christian who is wondering if he is really saved is not climbing the ladder. The Christian who is climbing the ladder usually does not have to wonder. Diligence builds assurance from the inside.
Diligence Guards the Heart
Proverbs 4:23, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”
The heart is the source of everything that comes out of your life. Your words, your decisions, your habits, your sin, your worship, all of it flows out of your heart. Solomon says guard it with all diligence. The lazy heart will end up bitter, lustful, prideful, or cold without ever seeing it coming. The diligent heart catches the rot when it is small.
Proverbs 4:24-27, “Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.”
The diligent man watches his mouth, his eyes, and his feet. He keeps his row straight by guarding what comes out of him and what goes into him.
Diligence in Work Brings Provision
The Bible ties diligence directly to provision. The diligent man works and receives. The lazy man wants and does not have.
Proverbs 10:4, “He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.”
Proverbs 13:4, “The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.”
Proverbs 21:5, “The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want.”
The diligent man comes home with food on the table. The slothful man comes home empty-handed and wonders why.
Diligence Brings Promotion
Proverbs 12:24, “The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.”
Leadership is given to the diligent. The lazy man can never lead. God promotes the man who shows up early, stays late, and does the job right, whether anybody is watching or not.
Proverbs 22:29, “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.”
If you want to lead one day, be diligent in your business today. The man who is faithful in the small things gets handed the big things. That is the way the kingdom works.
Diligence Will Not Allow Laziness for the Lord
Romans 12:11, “Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.”
Do not be lazy with your work, be on fire in your spirit and serve the Lord with both. Business and serving the Lord are tied together in the same breath. You cannot be lazy at your job and on fire at your church. The same man does both or neither.
Colossians 3:23, “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.”
Diligence Finishes What It Starts
Hebrews 6:11-12, “And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”
We should have the same diligence at the end of the race as at the beginning. The man who started hot at twenty and cold at sixty failed. Faith and patience are how the saints inherit the promises. The diligent saint finishes what he started.
Living This Out
If you want to be diligent, start by waking up early to pray and read the Bible every day.
Do not quit on God, the ministry, or your family. Show up on time. Try not to miss a church service for a year. Give more than you take, leave things better than you found them, and be a good steward of what God has handed you, whether it is your money, your time, your job, or your home. Share the gospel every day. Examine yourself before God has to examine you. Ask somebody to hold you accountable in the area where you know you are weak.
That is the diligent life. It is steady, day after day, year after year. The diligent saint is the saint who is still standing at sixty, seventy, and eighty, with a row plowed straight behind him and a harvest still being gathered in.
The next blog steps from diligence onto the foundation of the chain: Faith.
