His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by hiss own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith - goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perserverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2Peter 1:3-10
I don't know about you, but from time to time I begin to question the effectiveness of my faith in this cold dark world. A world that we have not just appeared in by "happenstance", but ever so carefully and strategically been placed where God can use us to the fullest capacity of His glory. Have you ever stopped long enough to think about that concept. God reveals to us that we are that important to Him and His purposes, but He also lets us know that nothing/no one, including us, will ever stand in the way of His masterful plan, which is His name being magnified among the nations. It is an amazing truth to meditate on . . . God has surgically implanted us into our life situations and environments to bring health and healing to a diseased world. The "Master Physician" chooses to use us in His plan of redemption and we don't always know to what extent He will use us. We may never know the people we have touched, by just merely living for Him in our everyday lives.
What is scary to me about this truth is: What if one of the lives I was intended to touch crossed my path when I was having a "weak moment"? What if they observed me when my life was not centered around Him? Then I become consumed with the thought of whether or not my faith is being effective to its maximum potential.
Peter is teaching believers here not to carry their doubts about themselves any longer. He is reminding us all that God does not "short change" anyone He calls "His own". He shows us that through our knowledge of Him, He has given us ALL that we need (2Peter 1:3). In verse 5, Peter goes on to say that we need to make an effort to increase our faith by practicing goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance; godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. You will notice that each of these leads to the next and in many ways the success of any of these depends on all the rest. For instance, try to justify how you would carry out some of these after omitting one from the list. How can you practice moral goodness without a knowledge of the commands of God? How can you persevere without praciticing self-control? How can you practice love to all mankind without possessing godliness in your life? You get the picture?
Peter goes on to say that if you possess these qualities and they are getting more and more abundant in your life (can't be a one time practice) that you will ALWAYS be effective in your faith. Wow. . . what a powerful statement. He also concludes by saying if we do these things, we will never fall. I don't know about you but that is a HUGE statement. That was not a "well maybe" or a "I think you might", that was a bold, confident statement. The more I meditate on this, I can always find a flaw in my life with one or more of these when I am feeling ineffective. I pray that I can commit to carrying these out in my life on a consistent basis and watch what God can do through a "sold out" life.
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