Faith is a beautiful virtue to have. By it, we believe in our Saviour and are saved from the sentence of death. However, to be fruitful in our walk with Christ, we have to add several other qualities to it that will keep us from becoming lukewarm, stagnant, and lazy.
And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
2 Peter 1:5-8?
Virtue
I see this as moral excellence, modesty, and purity. Never compromise your moral values, they are the first to warn you against temptation.
Knowledge
Delve deeper into our faith, into the Word of GOD that is perfect in every way. It is essential to know that which is lawful and unlawful for us, to understand moral wisdom. It is also our responsibility to know of the many wonderful promises GOD has given to us and to hold onto them when fiery trials come our way.
Temperance
Self-control is vital in every aspect of life, or we would likely see more chaos in the world today (although we are slowly descending into madness). We have the spirit of a sound mind (2 Tim 1:7), therefore there is no excuse for us not to be in control of our desires, and passions that often lead to a mighty fall into temptation.
Patience
We all need this in bucket loads, don’t we? Steadfastness, constancy, and endurance all come to mind when I hear this word. We are patient when we are not swerved from our faith, our GOD-given purpose even amid trials and sufferings. We must be patient in the little things (like waiting for water to boil!), to bigger things (waiting for the salvation of Lost loved ones).
Godliness
Think reverence and respect, piety towards GOD. We must be holy as GOD is holy (1 Pet 1:16). We must be deliberate in our decision to obey GOD’S Words fully, being careful to neither look back or to the side where temptation always awaits us.
Brotherly Kindness
This is the love of brothers or sisters, the love which Christians have for each other as family. We may have different nationalities, backgrounds, and languages, but we are all connected by Jesus. We have His Spirit in us that connects us beyond blood relations, making our bond firm and everlasting. It is only right that we have love for each other as we are going to spend eternity with together!
Charity
A love feast sums up this word quite well. Affection, goodwill towards one another, helpfulness, generosity- think of every good thing that we can offer each other, and do it with a pureness of heart.
For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our LORD Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
2 Peter 1:8-9?
As the End draws near, let us give this last leg of the race everything that we have. Run like one who wants to win, not one who wishes to come second place (FYI, there is no second place, only hell). The Crown of Life is at the finish line, and as we already know how this race ends, we had better be confident of our calling that nothing can deter us from sticking fast to Jesus.
I believe that the King James Bible (KJV) is the most reliable source of GOD’S Word, providing the best translation from languages used during Biblical times (Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic) into English. Other translations have omitted key passages and meanings, therefore I urge everyone to study the KJV.
