Diligence – One Word 2022

Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 2 Peter 3:14

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1:5-11

σπουδάζω

spoudazō

to use speed, i.e. to make effort, be prompt or earnest:—do (give) diligence, be diligent (forward), endeavour, labour, study.

While still in 2021, I sought a word for 2022 which would bring glory to God as I pursued Him, thirsted after Him, drew near to Him, and hungered after Him. In ‘diligence’ I am able to bring all these under one umbrella. In ‘diligence’ I feel delight in the ability to learn more about my God, to grow in Him and become more and more like His Son, my Christ Jesus. Yet, in a similar token, I feel a weight to pursue Him consistently so that those outcomes will be more obvious when others look upon me, and, hopefully, will see more of the Light of Jesus in me rather than me.

I also feel a burden of sin for it is all impossible to do in my own strength. I must truly depend upon the One to Whom I am being diligent about. The heaviness I feel is that I am spun down into a darkness I have not felt in such a long time. I do not like it. I want it to go away. It is over me and in me. I feel overshadowed. I feel as Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah. I find so much of this world disgusting. I find so many of my Christian friends walking in ways that seem not as Jesus called us. Not that I am walking rightly, but I am trying to understand just how Jesus has called us to walk in His light.

…and if He rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,…. 2 Peter 2:7-9

To me, being diligent in all I do and am is what I feel is my calling this year of 2022. Diligence in the pursuit of God. Diligence in the hungering and thirsting after the One Who has given me life, Who has forgiven me. I desire to be relentless in these things although that makes me out of breath just saying and typing those words!

I do not wish this upon myself nor anyone else, yet it is very possible that things such as these may be near:

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD,
“when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea,
and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the LORD,
but they shall not find it. Amos 8:11-12

“They shall not find it.” Oh, my!!! Walking in ‘diligence’ is my journey this year and for always!!

LORD, please guide my steps. Please show my Your way for my life. Hold me up while I walk these steps.

From the Commentary on 2 Peter 3 by Matthew Henry:

“Follow after holiness as well as peace: and even spotless and perfect; we must not only take heed of all spots which are not the spots of God’s children (this only prevents our being found of men without spot), we must be pressing towards spotless purity, absolute perfection. Christians must be perfecting holiness, that they may be not only blameless before men, but also in the sight of God; and all this deserves and needs the greatest diligence; he who does this work negligently can never do it successfully.”

Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to His promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 2 Peter 3:11-13

You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. 2 Peter 3:17-18

As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for You, O God. Psalm 42:1

O, Sweet Lord, I want to be pleasing in Your sight. I desire to be a sweet aroma to You. I know that I am struggling right now so draw me near and teach me what I need to know, what I need to be. May this year of ‘diligence’ be a journey where I grow as I walk with You. May I approach areas of change and growth in this new place seeking You at every turn. I may not always be pleasing to You, Lord, but I want to grow in holiness and purity with each step. I bow before You in praise and humility, Lord. In the Name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

“diligence” One Word 2022: photo at Pixabay; graphics added by me @ Pixlr photo editor

Matthew Henry: Commentary on 2 Peter 3 by Matthew Henry

One Word 2022: photo at Pixabay; graphics added by me @ Pixlr photo editor

Psalm 42:1-2 @ Heartlight.org