2 Peter 1:10
The Voice (VOICE)
10 Therefore, brothers and
sisters, work that much harder to confirm that God has called you and claimed
you. If you do this, then you will never fall along the way.
Tom came to the university with a number of Advanced
Placement courses. These are classes he took while in high school with special
examinations that gave him college credit for them. He also attended two math
summer camps where he learned how to reason mathematically, how to prove
theorems. He expressed tremendous enthusiasm for doing math and becoming a
mathematician. He had learned skills that the average math major learns during
his sophomore and junior years in college. Tom wanted to graduate in three
years, and we worked out a program that would let him do that. In the middle of
his second year at university, he took the very prestigious Putnam examination.
He scored better than 80% of the best undergraduate math students in the
nation.
Tom also wanted to earn a major in music. Both majors demand
an unusual amount of work and practice outside of class. By the middle of his
second year in college, it was becoming evident to me that he was spending a
lot more time on his music than he was with mathematics. Because he had
tremendous natural ability in math, he was still passing his math classes, but
his mastery was slipping. He neglected his homework, which had the gradual
result that his abilities to progress in math were slipping and becoming more
and more anemic. In the end he graduated with majors in both fields. In music
he excelled and went on to one of the most prestigious schools of music in the
nation. Meantime, however, he has lost interest in doing advanced mathematics.
In my own life I have a major career in mathematics; I also
have commitment to the cause of Christ. I have faith that by the grace of
Christ I am saved and will “graduate” into heaven. Peter’s concern is that I
run the danger of not putting enough effort into God’s calling in my own life and
thereby losing interest in my eternal destiny, to the point that I turn away
from my eternal salvation.
Lord, help me invest
sufficient time and effort in following You to confirm that You have “called me
and claimed me”.
