The Greek word for diligence means earnestness and haste. That means we are to add those characteristics to our faith, and to do it diligently.
Then in 2 Peter 1:10, the word diligence is mentioned again. It says: "Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence."
This word diligence also means to give earnestness, to be in haste; or in other words, to have great zeal.
The time has come for us to get in a hurry to do the things God desires for us to do. What happens will happen quickly.
In comparison, think how time seems to be going faster these days. What once would have taken decades has taken only a few years. What took years now takes only months; and months, only weeks; and weeks, only days; and days, only hours.
Things have been speeded up. It's now time for us to get in haste, to put on our spiritual track shoes. The Lord has laid out a plan, and we must be in a hurry to get it done. We must cut things short and get right to God's work, doing it in a hurry, because we no longer have much time.
The Harvest Time Is Coming!
Let's look in Proverbs : "He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame" (Prov. 10: 4,5).
The harvest time is coming! Millions and billions of people will be ripe to receive the Gospel. The will be ripe to grow from the infantile, babyhood state in Christendom to spiritual adulthood in Him, casting aside all things of the flesh.
The things people fight about and worry about so much do not really matter once they turn their lives over to the Almighty God. All that matters to them then is doing what God wants done in this day and hour.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers
Keith Butler has been an ordained minister since 1974. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and holds diplomas from Canada Christian College and Rhema Bible Training Center.
He serves in ministry with the support of his lovely wife, Pastor Deborah L. Butler, and their children: Pastor Andre Butler (granddaughters Alexis, Angela, and April), Pastor MiChelle Ferguson and husband Pastor Lee (grandson Lucas), and Minister Kristina Jenkins and husband Pastor Joel (grandsons Andrew and Austin, and granddaughter Alyssa).
