Growth. Spiritual growth is vital to deepen our relationship with God, and spiritual maturity should be the desire of every Christian. Pastor John reminded us in this week’s main point and overview; “the key to avoiding such a superficial faith is spelled out in one word…remain! The idea of remaining in Christ is also explained as abiding in Christ.” Remain does not mean to be stagnant or complacent, it means to continue, it’s ongoing. When doing chores around my grandparents’ farm, my grandma would often have to remind me to get moving and get things done. She’d say, “Chrissy, don’t let the grass grow under your feet.” I’m sure she really enjoyed my help, but I know she really just wanted us to get back to our lively round of Rummy. Well here in today’s scripture reading we see Peter reminding us to give diligence. Diligence means zeal and energetic effort; it gives us the idea of desire. Peter wasn’t interested in a card game, he was seriously interested in people living a life of growth and faithfulness in Christ. A serious question; Do you, do I, do we, desire growth? Growth in our faith doesn’t just happen. We need to continually add these things, these virtues contained in Peter’s letter, to our faith. It’s how we abide in Christ.
In our spiritual growth, these virtues are all necessary and they must work together in order to produce and build. Faith without virtue cannot make it. Neither can virtue make it without knowledge. In this letter, 2 Peter, Peter is giving a warning about the direction the world is headed in and warns of false teachers and he encourages Christians to grow in their faith and knowledge of God through the Word of God.
The Message Bible is a contemporary paraphrase that was written by Eugene Peterson. Within this passage I hear my grandma’s voice and I am so thankful for the warm memory. “So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus.”
Doesn’t that just want you to pray that God would increase in us a desire to know him more, to love him better and to truly live for Him? Let us be a church who is ready and prepared for the lies that will be thrown our way. May we desire to build up our faith, be rooted and grounded in Christ, produce God honoring fruit in all that we say and do, and continually abide and grow
In our spiritual growth, these virtues are all necessary and they must work together in order to produce and build. Faith without virtue cannot make it. Neither can virtue make it without knowledge. In this letter, 2 Peter, Peter is giving a warning about the direction the world is headed in and warns of false teachers and he encourages Christians to grow in their faith and knowledge of God through the Word of God.
The Message Bible is a contemporary paraphrase that was written by Eugene Peterson. Within this passage I hear my grandma’s voice and I am so thankful for the warm memory. “So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus.”
Doesn’t that just want you to pray that God would increase in us a desire to know him more, to love him better and to truly live for Him? Let us be a church who is ready and prepared for the lies that will be thrown our way. May we desire to build up our faith, be rooted and grounded in Christ, produce God honoring fruit in all that we say and do, and continually abide and grow