And to Your Faith - Add... (Part 2)

2 Peter 1:5-9 has an incredible promise in verse 8 “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.”

Or in the positive – they make us effective and fruitful.

So what are those qualities, and how do I add them to my training, and ultimately to my life.  If my goal is to finish a marathon, then I must train for a marathon, and train properly.  I must add those qualities that will get me across the finish line.  I don’t want to fall short. 

So let’s take a look:

-      Add to your faith – virtue

-      To virtue – add knowledge

-      To knowledge – add self-control

-      To self-control – add steadfastness

-      To steadfastness – add godliness

-      To godliness – add brotherly affection

-      To brotherly affection – add love

So the questions are “Why these qualities?” and “Why that order?”  That is what we will try to answer using our running analogy as a backdrop.  We will look into what those qualities are and how we might go about adding them. 

So let’s go back to the starting point – “faith”.  Peter assumes we have that as our starting point – much like my training plans assume I’ve been running consistently prior to even begin training for a marathon.  In 2 Peter 1:3 he is writing to us who “share the same precious faith” that was “given to us by Jesus Christ”.  In verse 3 he states that Jesus’ divine power “gives us everything we need for living a godly life.”   Wow! Everything we need – what a starting point!  I’ve never started training for a marathon not believing I couldn’t finish it.  I may have been overconfident – but I knew I could accomplish it – with training. 

So let’s add to our faith – to our foundation – those qualities that will get us to the finish line – knowing that we have through Christ all that we need to be successful.

 

Run On!