The scriptures encourage us to “Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, 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” (2 Peter 1:5-8).
Here’s the thing:
- I want to be effective and productive as a follower of Jesus Christ
- I want to grow and add to my faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection, and love
I want to grow in these areas. I would love to be a more effective question. The thing frustrating about passages like this is I don’t know how.
- How do I add something I don’t have in my life?
- How do I add self-control when I don’t have it?
- How do I add perseverance when I don’t have it?
- How do I add godliness when I don’t have it?
It’s not that I don’t want these things. I want it. Really bad. But how do I add something to my life that I don’t already have? So frustrating!!! Right?
Aha!
You see, this is a trick. The devil wants to frustrate us so we quit in despair.
Think about it.
Three words: practice, effort, and constancy.
If you are not strong and you want to get stronger, how do you add strength? If you want to get stronger, you have to get in the gym and work out. Not just once. But you have to keep at it. And in time, you have strength that you did not have before. You are stronger.
Practice. Effort. Constancy.
If you are not proficient in a particular skill or procedure, how do you add proficiency?
Practice. Effort. Constancy. And in time, you have more proficiency that you did not have before.
Spiritual realities are the same. How do we add faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection, and love?
Practice. Effort. Constancy.
Praxis: Faith in Action 