“…有了信心，又要加上德行…” (彼后1:5)
“加上”的意思是有些事我们必须要去做。我们常有一个危险，就是忘记我们不能做上帝做的事，上帝也不会做我们能做的。我们不能救自己，也不能叫自己成圣——那是上帝做的事。但上帝不会给我们好的习惯或者性格，也不会强迫我们走正路。我们必须自己做这些事。我们必须自己“做成”我们“得救的功夫”（腓2:12）。“加上”意味着我们必须养成做这些事情的习惯，而这在一开始总是很困难。采取主动要有一个开头——把自己带到必走之路上。
要警醒本来清楚知道神的旨意却要反复询问的倾向。采取主动——停止犹豫——迈开第一步。当上帝告诉你他的心意时，就立定心志，靠信心马上付诸行动，永远都不要再改变最初的决定。如果当神要你去做一件事，你却犹犹豫豫，那你就在不经意间离弃了神的恩典。自己要采取主动，现在就做出决定，要让自己不可能再回头。要破釜沉舟——告诉自己：“我要写那封信”，或者“我要把那笔债还掉”；然后就去做吧！不要再改变！
我们必须养成在一切事情上仔细聆听神声音的习惯，明白他的心意并听从他的命令。如果当灾难到来时，我们能条件反射般地转向神，我们就知道自己已经养成了这种习惯了。采取主动必须从现在所处的位置上开始，而不是那些我们还没有到过的位置。
May 10: Take The Initiative
“Add to your faith virtue. . .” (“Furnish your faith with resolution.”) (MOFFATT.) 2 Peter 1:5
“Add” means there is something we have to do. We are in danger of forgetting that we cannot do what God does, and that God will not do what we can do. We cannot save ourselves nor sanctify ourselves, God does that; but God will not give us good habits, He will not give us character, He will not make us walk aright. We have to do all that ourselves, we have to work out the salvation God has worked in. “Add” means to get into the habit of doing things, and in the initial stages it is difficult. To take the initiative is to make a beginning, to instruct yourself in the way you have to go.
Beware of the tendency of asking the way when you know it perfectly well. Take the initiative, stop hesitating, and take the first step. Be resolute when God speaks, act in faith immediately on what He says, and never revise your decisions. If you hesitate when God tells you to do a thing, you endanger your standing in grace. Take the initiative, take it yourself, take the step with your will now, make it impossible to go back. Burn your bridges behind you – “I will write that letter”; “I will pay that debt.” Make the thing inevitable.
We have to get into the habit of hearkening to God about everything, to form the habit of finding out what God says. If when a crisis comes, we instinctively turn to God, we know that the habit has been formed. We have to take the initiative where we are, not where we are not.