7 Things - Our Journey From Faith To Love

Peter describes a seven-step journey of faith
—2 Pet. 1:2–8

(I have included the NLT version of this passage as it reads so well, and aids in the meaning)

2 Peter 1:2-8 (NKJV)

2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,

3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,

4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,

6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,

7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We can see in verses 3 and 4 that this seven-step journey takes us from faith to love—through His power and promises, and our participation (partake) in His divine nature. Look at the attributes we have to add to our faith in order to gain more and more of the likeness of Christ:

Add to your faith—virtue (moral excellence, goodness, Christian energy)

Add to virtue—knowledge (intelligence)

Add to knowledge—self-control (discipline)

Add to self-control—perseverance (patience, endurance)

Add to perseverance—godliness (piety)

Add to godliness—brotherly kindness

Add to brotherly kindness—love

It is interesting to me that the journey begins with faith and concludes with love. What perfect "bookends" for our journey!

The concept of “adding” to our faith means that we have work to do. We cannot work for our salvation - Jesus has done that - there is nothing we can do to add to what He accomplished for us on Calvary. However we do have work to do in order to grow in grace. God does not force these attributes onto us, nor does he hand them to us as a free gift. Each of these attributes has to be worked into our lives through a series of choices, self-discipline, and faith victories. God doesn’t do this work – we must do it.

I think we will grow stronger in faith if we have to walk into these things day by day - disciplining our hearts and minds to follow Christ and let go of self.

We must become passionate about gaining the likeness of Christ – this is really what it means to be a “Christian.” I invite you to embark on this journey to “build and perfect your faith” – take a day out of the week to focus on each one of these steps and ask the Lord to reveal His plan for you to grow in this grace.

2 Peter 1:2-8 (New Living Translation)

2 May God bless you with his special favor and wonderful peace as you come to know Jesus, our God and Lord, better and better.

3 As we know Jesus better, his divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life. He has called us to receive his own glory and goodness!

4 And by that same mighty power, he has given us all of his rich and wonderful promises. He has promised that you will escape the decadence all around you caused by evil desires and that you will share in his divine nature.

5 So make every effort to apply the benefits of these promises to your life. Then your faith will produce a life of moral excellence. A life of moral excellence leads to knowing God better.

6 Knowing God leads to self-control. Self-control leads to patient endurance, and patient endurance leads to godliness.

7 Godliness leads to love for other Christians, and finally you will grow to have genuine love for everyone.

8 The more you grow like this, the more you will become productive and useful in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.