2 Peter 1:5-9 - What do I need to prop up my faith?

Scripture: 2 Peter 1:5-9

Summary: Support your faith with goodness, with knowlede, with self-control, with endurance, with godliness, with mutual affection, with love. They will keep you from being ineffective. For without them you are blind, forgetful of cleansing of past sins.

Thoughts: It is critical for us, as Christians, to have faith. Without faith, we are nothing. Faith is what is required for our salvation in Jesus Christ. But to continue to have faith, we have to support it with goodness. We have to choose good in our daily lives. And the goodness must be supported by knowledge. We need to continue to read and study so that our knowledge doesn't decay. The knowledge must be tempered with self-control as we make good choices in our daily lives. And endurance is required for those days when our self control fails. Endurance, not only in the long races, but in resisting the tempations that our lives are sprinkled with. Then we need to cultivate godliness, trying to follow in the path that Christ leads us. And we need to care about all people. Yes everyone. Even that person that drives you stark raving mad! But most importantly, we have to love. Love is the foundation that ultimately supports our faith. Without love, we are nothing. As Christ himself showed us, love can turn the world around. Thanks be to God!

Prayer: Help me, Lord, to cultivate all of these aspects of faith in my life. Amen.