The following is great advice to live by. The world would be a much better place if we all lived by them.
2 Peter 1:4 thru 7 (King James Version):
4Whereby 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.
5And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
I can’t think of a greater promise than to spend eternity with those you love, who share your faith in God. This is were having faith in God can give Christ Followers more comfort in their system of belief than I can mine, which is based on the forces in the world I live in. For me my story ends at death.
Lust is a very powerful, corrupting, force. Looking back at all my relationships it could be that I was more driven by lust, not love. This could be why none ever lasted. I don’t regret one minute in any of these relationships. I do regret the pain I caused because I was too self centered to work hard enough at building any of these relationship into a loving one.
I have mixed feelings about the word temperance, which in the dictionary is defined as moderation in action, thought, or feeling. Once I discovered how joyful, exhilarating, life can be, living life to it’s fullest, not in moderation, was more my goal. I do try to factor in the risk of doing harm to either myself, or someone else. Music, dancing, laughter, joy, love are not activities that are best experienced in moderation. It is also true however, that my overindulgence in food, and drink, likely lead to my diabetes. I guess the degree of moderation we should exercise depends on the activity.
It took me a long time to learn the value of patience. On more than one occasion I have been like Mr. Wile E. Coyote, with the resulting crash landing from leaping before I looked. Life will always put up hurdles. If the hurdle happens to be a railroad track, you are much better off waiting for the train to pass before you cross to the other side. If your are trying to build something, including your plan for life, you had better take the time to read the blueprints, twice, before you start. If you get the foundation wrong you had better have a lot of insurance. 
Kindness and charity are two of the most beautiful words in the dictionary. In terms of living in this world, acting with kindness, and charity, towards our fellow man may be the only two concepts we need. Love is a word people use a lot. If we don’t act with kindness, and charity, love is just a word.
Natalie Merchant – Kind and Generous
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June 25, 2009 at 6:09 pm
loveshine21056
Hello! Interesting thoughts here. I do have to say that I like the part about ”life will give you hurdles. If your hurdle is a railroad track, your better off waiting for the train to pass before crossing to the other side. If you’re trying to build something, including your plan for life, you had better take the time to read the blueprints, twice, before you start. If you get the foundation wrong you had better have a lot of insurance.”
Sometimes we think we can beat the train, when we think we know everything, but we don;t know everything, so we get hit by the train. Which hurts.
Then, we need to think about things before we do it, because sometimes we receive a bad result for not thinking things through.
That’s the way I see some stuff. Take Care.
June 26, 2009 at 3:12 am
edfromct
Hi Loveshine. Thanks for stopping and taking the time to comment.
I agree. Even in this fast paced, multi tasking, world we need to make sure we develop the patience to think about what we are about to do. We only have to lose to that train once.
June 25, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Indian Lake Papa
Kindness and generousity are so imprtant. Mama is very frugal – but yet a very generous lady!
June 26, 2009 at 3:18 am
edfromct
Papa, the key is knowing when to be very frugal, not to waste anything, and when we can be more generous. We need to frugal with our money, but never with love.
June 26, 2009 at 5:21 am
lovewillbringustogether
That’s a very interesting chapter you have posted on today Ed and i am indebited to you for doing so (albeit is somewhat ‘edited’).
in my reading the verses, verse 4 warns us that our human lusts (strong excessive ‘irresistable’ desire) for things of the world are what prevent us from achieving the preferred level of communion with the Divine. That we humans are corrupted away from achieving our true ‘purpose’ through choosing to give in to (failing to resist) the obvious earthly ‘passions’ rather than attempting to improve our understanding of the spiritual aspect of our being.
verse 5 suggests that surrendering once to the divine nature is not sufficient for us to be ’saved’ in this life; that we NEED to maintian permanent diligence ( be ever ‘watchful’ that those lusts lead us not astray again) and that we learn to add Virtue to our faith in God. and to add to our Faith and Virtue, knowledge and understanding of why these things are important to us as an individual.
in verse 6 temperance is used to warn us against ‘becoming intoxicated’, as if having drunk strong wine and losing our senses – losing our ability to reason and ‘walk in an upright fashion’. It can be read as ‘moderation – to do nothing to excess (and this includes becoming ‘holier than thou’ as many Christians and other religious zealots fail to appreciate – they seem to think you can never have TOO much of a ‘good thing’ – God never works in that fashion – He maintains balance in ALL things (moderation). The only exception is that we are to always be led In Spirit – always follow God’s will and prefer his Will to our own fallible human one. God willl not lead us ‘astray’ or cause us to become ‘drunk with power’ or any other human passion – that is the work He has delegated to Satan. Again after temperance and patience we are to learn to be more like god – godliness and be ‘perfect’ in Spirit.
after we add the ability to be more as god within our thought, heart and acts we are to add kindness towards our brothers (be it mankind, or brothers in Christ) and from this follows ‘charity’ which can also be defined as brotherly love – the love of our neighbour (as ourself).
Verse 8 goes on to add that once we are able to possess all these worthy achievemnets within us we will not be unfruitful in the knowledge of Jesus Christ
if i may correct you on one thing? it is only the physical ‘you’ who believes your story ends upon your physical death – you will find that your soul will continue after this – you are an eternal being temporarily living in, and with the full knowledge of, an earthly temporal, physical body/mind.
it may be hard for me to convince that body and mind of this – but your spirit shows through and is unmistakeable. Your spirit knows this – it is just having a hard time convincing you also
don’t ’sweat it’ too much
a few of us down here will have a good word to put in on your behalf when the time comes 
Fortunately for you and i love, kindness and charity are not just words in a dictionary.
Sadly, however neither is ‘lust’
Great Post Sir.
<B
June 27, 2009 at 12:35 am
edfromct
I agree with the guidance in verse 4. We need to develop the discipline to resist our human lust, whether it’s origins are in our hormones, or with the Satan of the Bible, in order to develop a loving, spiritual, relationship, with our fellow man, and for Christian’s, their God. Lust can consume all our energy leaving little room for love and spirituality.
The faith, virtue and knowledge of verse 5 make a very good moral code to live by. Our faith needs to lead us to living virtuous lives, making the right moral decisions. Knowledge leads to a better understanding of faith. These are three linked together.
Using temperance as in not losing control of our senses, to avoid becoming intoxicated to the point of excessive behavior, makes the guidance in verse 6 clearer to me. We want it all now. It is better to exercise patience and take the time to understand what it is we really need. Patience is a Godly behavior. God of the Bible has shown infinite patience with mankind. If God acted with human impatience we may have been zapped out of existence long ago.
When learn to use diligence, virtue, knowledge, temperance and patience, this will lead us to acting with more kindness, and charity, towards our fellow man, and them towards us. Brotherly love is possible, inevitable, if we follow the guidance in the Book of Peter
June 28, 2009 at 5:47 am
lovewillbringustogether
i completely agree with your insight into patience (and pretty much all your other thoughts on this chapter). as a single ’small and insignificant’ human we tend to make rash and hasty (compared to God) judgments and decisions based solely upon our own somewhat selfish natures. Through learning patience and with a wider knowledge of all things and their rights and places in our life we might be able to make better, more informed decisions about how we each choose to live, for the betterment of all, not just self.
Wanting it all and wanting it now are irreconcilable with having a FULL understanding of our situation as we NEED time to grow and develop the beings we are destined to one day become. There is indeed a long way for most of us still to go to ‘get’ there’ and get it ALL.
I think you are heading along the right track though
Don’t stop now
<B
June 28, 2009 at 5:18 pm
edfromct
Understanding the difference between what we want, and what we need, is on the most important lessons in life.
I would like to think I am on the right track. Except sometimes, when my eyes wander over the scantly clad bodies at the beach, or my neighbors shiny new car, my brain gets sidetracked.
June 29, 2009 at 1:03 am
lovewillbringustogether
The world ‘outside’ is indeed an endlessly changing, never-ending source of ‘distraction’, and not only to the spirit
it is good that we can recognise it for such.
how we choose to use such awareness is up to each one of us
ideally we use it to our personal and community benefit.
<B