Not at 100% yet

In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins. (2 Peter 1:5-9)

How many things can we say we really make every effort to develop in our lives? I played guitar for a while, but I never made an effort to become very good at it. I did some jewelry making in high school, but it never continued once I was out of school. I did a little leather working, but that too fell by the wayside. I went to Bible College, but never pastored a church. It did open a door in my heart to a deeper study of the Word of God, though. There are some things we 'pursue', but never really 'finish', while there are others we desire to finish well, no matter the cost. Let your faith be one of those things that you 'finish well', no matter the cost.

Godliness doesn't 'just happen' - it is a lifelong pursuit, complete with our stumbles and bumbles, ups and downs, and renewed commitments all along the way. Faith is 'built upon' all throughout our lives. We may not ever get to the point where we feel like it is 100% complete - but we never give up on learning the lessons of faith God wants to teach us along the way. We have been cleansed from a life of sin - but we don't always live like we are! We have begun the walk, but we haven't finished it yet. Grow in God - faith leads to a set of different choices (moral excellence being the pursuit). 

As we discover what God says to us in his Word, we begin to see that our lives need to be affected at a very deep level by those standards he has laid out so carefully for us. As we learn to make right choices one-by-one, we discover there are also 'wrong choices' we make along the way. We learn to bring those wrong one to him and seek his renewal and restoration as we repent of our sins. Then we might just discover the wrong ones were made because we didn't embrace what God told us in the first place - so we take that knowledge and use it to allow change to come in our heart and minds.

Growth requires incremental change. I think we get a little confused on that one - believing that coming to Christ brought about all the change we will need in this lifetime. Evil still abounds around us - we must choose moral excellence each time we are confronted by it. Self-control must guide our actions, and sometimes we even need to experience a little 'godly endurance' through all the upheaval and chaos that evil brings into our lives. The struggles don't end - there is just a different way of dealing with them, walking through them, and coming out on the other side of them. It is this closeness of relationship with Jesus that makes the difference. Just sayin!

All the bells and whistles

Now God has equipped us to be capable servants of the new covenant, not by authority of the written law which only brings death, but by the Spirit who brings life. (2 Corinthians 3:6 VOICE)

I sometimes fall prey to the pervasive attitude of "I could never do that" when I see someone run a marathon, but the truth is that I have never trained or attempted even a short one, so why would I ever assume I could not do it? The more truthful statement would be to admit I am too doggone intimidated by the race to even enter it!  It isn't that we "could never" as much as we haven't really ever tried all that hard! The good news about our walk with Jesus is that we are "equipped us to be capable servants" - we don't have to worry or wonder if we have the "right stuff" to run the race because we do!

Back in the day, my father was a car salesman for a period of time. He was great at sales, so most of his career involved one forms of sales or another. In those days, the salesman with the biggest sales got to bring home a demonstrator car that he could use for about six months.  It was quite a treat to see dad drive up in some shiny new automobile, complete with all the fanciest of gadgets and features. As dad would have said, it was "fully equipped". The sound system was top notch, the seat upholstered with luxurious fabrics, and when steering wheels were just starting to be adjustable, we had one! 

The "fully equipped" car changed though as new technology came on the market. That demonstrator would be traded in for one of the newest and greatest of "fully equipped" automobiles on the lot - but he always chose something practical and totally serviceable for our family. He probably could have brought home a pick-up or sports car that was "fully equipped", but he always drove home some sedan that would accommodate all the needs of our family. Dad was just that kind of guy - he always met the needs of his family - we were first and foremost in his mind all the time. He was a great example of what our heavenly father is like - for of heavenly father is always thinking of us first!

Our heavenly father wants us to understand how much he has provided for our "equipping" in this life. His intense love requires he provide nothing short of all we need to live godly lives - it is how he rolls!  He doesn't do a half-way job of equipping us for godliness - he goes all out and "fully equips" us with everything we need to overcome the evil without and selfishness within. Whenever we feel a little "incapable", we must turn our eyes to him and recall all he has done to provide all we need to walk this life out in complete confidence. I guess you could say God took great care to make sure we each were equipped with all the "bells and whistles" so that we have every "feature" we require in order to live godly lives. Just sayin!

Practiced Obedience

 ^5-9So 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. Without these qualities you can't see what's right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.

(2 Peter 1:5-8)

To our good character (moral choices), spiritual understanding (discernment), alert discipline (spiritual development), and passionate patience (endurance and stability), we are to add reverent wonder.  Reverent wonder really comes down to one key word: Obedience.  We are to incorporate into our live the moment-by-moment "habit" of obedience.  Obedience brings honor to God and acknowledges his presence in our lives.

In other translations, you may observe that this is translated as "godliness".  Godliness is the evidence that one is conforming to God's laws and wishes.  It is a sense of devotion to the control and direction of another - God.  Obedience is more than just conforming - it incorporates the idea of being "willing" to do what one is asked.  

Willingness is probably one of the biggest struggles we have as Christians.  We may even adhere to the idea that "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak".  In other words, we WANT to do what is right, but we DON'T do it.  The struggle between "US" and "GOD" is too great - we "give in" to the "US" because it is immediately satisfying, easier, or just plain selfish.  

One thing that surprised me when I explored the meaning of "obedience" is that is something that is PRACTICED.  It does not come easily!  We must do it over and over again.  A lifestyle of reverent wonder (godliness) is LEARNED.  We don't start out one day saying, "Today and forevermore I will be obedient to all God desires of me."  We may intend to live this way, but reality hits us about two choices into the day and we crash and burn!

The idea Peter is presenting is that of consistent and progressive obedience.  Obedience is practiced - therefore, it is progressive.  What we practice soon becomes easier and is something we embrace without much resistance.  Obedience is also consistent - we learn that a course of action yields a result that is rewarding, enjoyable, or simply put, good for us.  

With a strong foundation laid, we have an opportunity to begin to build upon that foundation.  Peter is directing us toward daily activity that produces this type of "learning" in our lives.  He is provoking us toward consistently embracing the thoughts, attitudes, and actions that will bring more of God's grace and wisdom into our lives.  Obedience is not immediate - it is a process. Remember, practice makes perfect - not the other way around!