“"Add To Your Faith"”

Sunday, July 05, 2020

I imagine II Peter 1:5-8 is one of the more well-known passages in II Peter. I can remember as a child being instructed to memorize the list of things to add to your faith by my Bible class teacher, Mrs. Opal Mullis. I am glad I learned this passage. Memorizing this passage allows me to take a moment and reflect on how much or how little I have grown in those areas (II Cor. 13:5).

For those who have, or would want to memorize this list, don’t forget the very beginning statement where Peter says, “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith …” (II Pet. 1:5). The NET says, “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith ….” The NAS says, “applying all diligence, in your faith supply ....” Perhaps we have thought of our faith as a static thing, a binary thing. You either have it, or you don’t. God says that we can add to our faith. By implication, we must also understand that if we can add to our faith, we can also diminish it.

Notice also that adding to our faith is not an involuntary action in this passage. It is not like a teenager’s “growth spurt”! Adding requires diligence (eagerness, earnestness, care, Strong’s), or as the NET says, “Make every effort.” Being a Christian is not for the faint-hearted, and it is not for the lazy (II Tim. 2:15)! Peter declares this when he reminds Christians the world-over to be diligent to grow! I find it interesting that this book begins and ends with the admonishment to grow (II Pet. 1:5, 3:18).

Dear Christian, are you growing in your faith? Are you making the earnest effort to increase and add those character traits to your faith that will result in being fruitful and will prevent a spiritual fall (II Pet. 1:8, 10)? If not, why not? Adding to your faith is a daily work. It cannot be ignored without suffering harmful spiritual consequences (II Pet. 1:9).

Make the diligent, determined effort to add to your faith today and every day that you live!

- Jarrod M. Jacobs

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