Christian Growth

Scripture: 2 Peter 1:5-8 (NIV)

 make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶ and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷ and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. ⁸ 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.

Devotion:

            We look today at Peter’s 2^nd letter for a challenge for all of us to grow in Christ. Peter gives us a list of eight qualities that are given to deepen and improve our faith. He tells us first of all that we are to “make every effort to add” these eight qualities so that we will be effective and productive disciples of the Lord. Too many Christians think that once they have simple faith in Christ and so are saved, they need not expend any energy of their own to improve their service to Jesus. Clearly Peter is calling that attitude into question with these verses.

            The Lord intends for us to be workers in the kingdom of God. We are to be actively seeking to bring new members into the fold, and we are to be encouragers to our fellow believers. We can do this by applying ourselves to increase these eight qualities of a Christ-like life. So, let us briefly examine these qualities in order to see how we can add them to our lives in an increasing way. Before we begin let me say that it is a profitable use of time to do a word study on these eight concepts. What follows is a brief overview of them.

            Peter takes for granted that his readers have faith already. He uses faith as the foundation on which we can build an active and fruitful Christian life. The first thing we are to add to our faith is goodness. The meaning of this word is closer to the word “excellence.” It indicates that we are to strive for excellence in every area of life. However, excellence alone will not lead to the type of improvement Peter has in mind here.

            To reach higher we must obtain knowledge. Since we are to love our God with all our mind (Matt. 22:37) increasing in knowledge is especially important to our walk with the Lord. Following close on the heels of knowledge is self-control. The believer is not to be given to excesses in any area of life. To self-control one will add perseverance. That will enable one to continue to walk with God no matter what difficulty is being faced. To perseverance one adds godliness. Godliness enables one to walk with assurance and hope for the future.

            Mutual Affection is next on the list. We must love our fellow believers in order to be truly God’s children, therefore we must have mutual affection toward them. This love for those in the church must then explode outward to take in love for all God’s creation. Let us pray that these traits be found in each of us in increasing measure.

Prayer:

            Holy God, we come to you as people who want more of you in our lives. We know that we often fall short of who you would have us to be. Grant your children more grace by helping us to increase in faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection, and love. In order that we would be known in the world as your children. Thank you for loving us enough to put in our hearts the desire to be more like you. Amen.