Devotions: Diligent Faith

Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,

2 Peter 1:5 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

God has given us everything we need for life and godliness. He wants us to succeed and has given what we need to do that. He has promised them, as well as promising to be with us and to help us as we work toward the goal. We will face trouble and temptation, but God has given us what we need to deal with them. Because of this we need to be diligent in how we live, faithful to live a life honoring to God. He has given us faith, but with faith we need to add moral excellence, or virtue. We need to live moral, virtuous lives. We can’t just live however we want. Our lives are no longer ours, but His. That is what happens at salvation when we “give our lives to Christ.” That is literal not figurative. We submit to His Lordship and give our lives to Him because He bought them with His blood, so instead of being slaves to sin, we are slaves to God. In our virtue we need to add knowledge. This is a personal, intimate, experiential knowledge of God, not just of the Bible. We need to know what the Bible says, but we also need to know God personally and intimately. Knowledge without relationship leads to legalism. We need to know God so that we will know what true virtue is, so that our faith can guide us, so that we know what God’s will for our lives is. Are you living diligently? Do you have faith, virtue and knowledge? What do you need to do to get it?

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