Grow and be sure of your faith
Here is what God laid on my heart this morning. It helps to give us a certainty in what we believe.
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.– 2 Peter 1:2-11
In uncertain times, it’s natural for people to feel unsure of the things, in which they once had so much certainty. Peter shows us the things we should be holding onto as our strength and security.
There are four things here which immediately stand out as important for us today.
We have been given ALL things
There seems to be a culture these days, which says our faults are due to the failings of others. How often do people in the church worldwide, embrace the lie that the congregations would be better and bigger if only we had better and bigger bands, better and bigger buildings, better and bigger named preachers and pastors etc. This can lead to people feeling they are missing out and they end up chasing after the bigger and better things, so that they can progress in faith. But Peter is clear that we have been given ALL things pertaining to life and godliness. It’s a gift of God and we need to tap into that gift daily.
Our escape from lust
When we properly receive the gift of faith, we can find protection from corruption through lust. Notice the vehicle of our downfall is lust. Lust is an intense desire and even obsession, which is often linked to the sensual. But we can desire many things in this world and our desire for them will take our focus off God. Remember, our direction of travel will be affected by what we’re focused on. What are you longing for?
Growth
The faith which God gives us is not dead, it’s a living faith, and living things grow.
Here Peter is pointing out the things which get added as our faith grows. Virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, love. Faith is a gift, but these things require something of us. Why not do a quick faith check by asking how you stand in relation to these things?
Calling and election
In verse 10 we see a ‘therefore’. You might know this already but whenever we see a, therefore, we need to know what it’s there for. He is saying after understanding we have all we need in Christ and after looking closely at all these things and ensuring we implement them, we should be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure.
Don’t be those who go blindly stumbling about in search of a new fix. If you regularly check your faith by God’s standard and keep to the things laid out here, then you will not go searching for the bigger and the better, because He is the biggest and the best.
Add your efforts to the faith He has given you and the results will be amazing and obvious:
• You will grow in Him.
• You will be sure of your calling and salvation.
• You will never stumble.