“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love” (2 Peter 1:3-7). 

I love lists. I am a list-maker. Lists help me to organize my thoughts, my agenda, my daily and life-time goals. I like to think I am organized and need to believe that I am productive and progressing. My husband just calls me obsessive. 

Anyway, for that reason, I have always been attracted to this passage in 2 Peter, because it is so logical and progressive. One way to read it would be: Do not just have faith but demonstrate the fruit of your faith by doing good things. Do not just do good things but gain knowledge. Do not have knowledge just to have knowledge but use it wisely and be self-controlled. In being self-controlled, be persistent and constant; and in doing so, be godly. In being godly, have good relationships with others; and last but certainly not least, do all in love. 

It is assumed that we start with faith, which is the gift of God for those who believe. In the first part of this passage, Peter tells us that through the power of the Holy Spirit, we have everything we need for a godly life. By knowing God and Jesus Christ our Lord, we can participate in all His promises and overcome the corruption of the world. Who would not want that? Our part is to make every effort to pursue a godly life; in other words, follow Jesus as His disciple, obedient to His will. 

All this sounds basic, fundamental, and therefore, perhaps a “no-brainer.” However, when we ponder God and His great love for us, along with and his Holy, Holy, Holiness, we might begin to see some contradictions in ourselves. Especially if we are honest with ourselves and really seek to be convicted of anything that would be displeasing to God. That is because God, who loves each of us with an unfailing love, absolutely hates—cannot tolerate—sin. And we are all sinners.  

My husband, our sons, and several of our grandchildren like to bow hunt, and in doing so they practice with targets. In shooting an arrow into a target, the goal would be to hit the bullseye, the very center of the target. Anything off center is missing the target, the mark. That is a particularly good definition of sin. The target is perfection, holiness, sinlessness. Anything off center is missing the mark; it is sin. It can be sin of commission—doing something you should not do, or it can be a sin of omission—failing to do something that you should have done. God is three-fold holy, perfection. He says to us: Be holy, as I am holy.  

Speaking to believers now: if we love God, and if we desire to pursue holiness, we must, therefore, hate sin just like He does. We must, as Paul explains, make every effort to put off our sin. But it is important to distinguish between the sin and the sinner. As believers in and followers of Christ, we are sinners saved by grace. We are covered by the blood of Jesus. When the great day of the Lord comes, as described in Matthew 25, we will be counted among the sheep, destined for heaven, only because of the grace and love of our God and Lord and Savior. And when we come before Jesus at the Great White Throne of Judgment, we will not be at risk of eternal damnation, but we will be accountable for what we have done and we will be eligible for rewards, crowns, again because of His love and mercy. 

To circle back around, all this is not a pass. We cannot freely sin, make up our own rules, rationalize our behavior, or condone sin in any way, just because we have received Christ as our Savior. Paul writes in Romans 6:15 “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!”  So, in our pursuit of holiness, obedience, and desire to please God, I am beginning a series on the topic of godliness. And my prayer is that everything that I write will be truth, that it will be written with love for God and love for each reader, and that it will be received in love, for that is my intention. 

In Christ, 

Judy