3 God’s divine power has given us everything we need for life and for godliness.  This power was given to us through knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and integrity.  4 Through his glory and integrity he has given us his promises that are of the highest value.  Through these promises you will share in the divine nature because you have escaped the corruption that sinful desires cause in the world.  5 Because of this, make every effort to add integrity to your faith; and to integrity add knowledge;  6 to knowledge add self-control; to self-control add endurance; to endurance add godliness;  7 to godliness add Christian affection; and to Christian affection add love.  8 If you have these qualities and they are increasing, it demonstrates that your knowledge about our Lord Jesus Christ is living and productive.  9 If these qualities aren’t present in your life, you’re shortsighted and have forgotten that you were cleansed from your past sins.  10 Therefore, brothers and sisters, use more effort to make God’s calling and choosing of you secure.  If you keep doing this, you will never fall away.

2 Peter 1:3-10 (God’s Word Translation)

These words slapped me in the face this morning as I read them!  I woke up this morning frustrated with myself for once again falling off the wagon and decided to take the advice of a well known TV evangelist that I heard yesterday morning.  She said if you’re having problems with anger, study patience and kindness; if you’re having problems with sadness study joy, etc.  In other words be intentional about your devotional reading, rather than thumbing through mindlessly and dropping your finger.  So, this morning I decided to search for scriptures that spoke to having self control.  2 Peter 1:3-10 is where the Holy Spirit arrested me and gently, yet forcefully spoke to my spirit.

“God’s divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness.”  Yet, if you’re anything like me… the excuse is, “I just don’t have enough self-control”.  Now either we’re right or the writer of 2 Peter is… this could get ugly.  If we really believe that God’s word is truth, then what is actually going on is that we are not accepting (faith) the divine blessing of ALL we need for life and godliness.  When I considered the weight of this reality, I was convicted by my lack of faith and my seeming immediate deference to laziness… can you say cop-out?  For me, God’s divine power to live is about way more than our faith journey, it touches every facet of our spirit-man as well as our humanity. God enables us to live wholistically!  We know this in theory, but how many of us walk it out?

The Word, tells us that God not only gives us divine power, but He also gives us knowledge of his Son.  It is through our relationship with Christ Jesus, that we being to grow in our faith.  That last phrase is interesting isn’t it?  “Grow in our faith”… Only living things can grow, and living things only grow when they receive proper nutrition and nurture.  We are encouraged to ADD to our faith, to grow our faith if you will, by continually pursuing godliness.  We’re saved, but that is not the destination… it is the first step in a life-long journey to eternity.

Notice the progression of “add-ons”, I think there is something freeing about this order, if we can embrace it.  Most of us try to add everything in one day.  Take dieting and exercise, two of my least favorite things, my normal approach has always been all or nothing.  That’s the kind of person I am… if I’m in, I’m all in and could sell my brand of ice to a polar bear.  But, if I’m out, it would take an act of Congress to get me in, and we all know how well Congress is working these days.  The point is many of us try to embrace radical change, when baby steps is the better plan.  Let’s walk through the add-ons!

5 “Because of this, make every effort to add integrity to your faith; and to integrity add knowledge; 6 to knowledge add self-control; to self-control add endurance; to endurance add godliness; 7 to godliness add Christian affection; and to Christian affection add love.”

The first four things mentioned are not just spiritual in nature… They are important values for every part of our lives.   Integrity – Being the same when no one is looking, sticking to your word or promises, follow through.   Knowledge – Wisdom or insight gained through research and study, knowing how to apply your wisdom makes you capable of even more integrity.   Self-Control – The ability to set boundaries for ourselves, it’s more than saying NO, it’s saying yes to greater freedom and sweeter rewards.   Endurance – The ability to manage our energies and finish strong. Like mathematical training in grade school, each quality or core-value builds on the previous.

What this order tells us, is that we have to start by being people of integrity.  We don’t have to run a marathon the first day, and in fact shouldn’t even try.  We have to get our mindset right first.  As we renew our minds, we gain knowledge and develop a Christ-centered plan of attack or strategy.  That strategy coupled with our integrity and His divine power help us to exhibit more self-control.  We develop more endurance each time we face crises, situations or temptations that test our integrity, Knowledge (Strategy) and self-control.  These tests grow our faith… “You know that such testing of your faith produces endurance. Endure until your testing is over.  Then you will be mature and complete, and you won’t need anything” (James 1:3-4).

These tests not only grow your faith (ie. spiritual life), they also make us stronger, more mature people. If we would approach every facet of our lives through the scope of this order of add-ons, we will find that other areas of our lives would benefit from this Biblical truth as well.  The last part of the progression includes godliness, Christian affection and Love. As we grow stronger in our faith these qualities are the results.  Here again, if we continue to pursue these qualities and strive to add-on to our faith(salvation), we will approach every part of life differently.  There were will (and should be) tangible differences in the way we present ourselves as Christ’s ambassadors to the world.

It is my prayer that we (especially ME), would all learn to ADD-ON to our faith with a frequency that challenges those around us to rise to a new level.  That we would “keep doing this, so that we will never fall away.”  God help us to be people who love you with more than our mouths.  Help us to be people who are challenged by your Spirit and rise to meet the challenge, rather than shying away from it.  Help us to be humble and not stubborn, so that we can move to the next place you have for us, rather than remaining stuck in our old ways of doing life.  Finally, help us to not make excuses for why we stagnate and rather make decisions to pursue godliness!