This list (Moral excellence or virtue. Knowledge or understanding. Self-control. Perseverance (endurance, patience). Godliness. Brotherly kindness and gentleness) in 2 Peter can be overwhelming if we make it about us.
One way we do that is to try to do these things, emphasizing trying instead of training. If we try to do these things, our efforts will be about us. We will berate ourselves when we fail; we will feel self-satisfied when we get something right.
But as all our dimensions are trained by the Spirit through spiritual disciplines, we can increasingly connect with God throughout the day. The spiritual life then remains God-focused. It isn’t about us. Another skewed emphasis is when we get wrapped up in the formulaic rather than the relational.
When we think, If I do A, God will do B, we’re thinking of our own performance. But our focus must always be on God and our relationship to God. The important issue is continually putting our confidence in God as he delights in bringing us along on this journey of transformation in his kingdom. We’re not performing—we’re just tagging along behind Jesus, copying his fascinating way of being.
TODAY’S EXPERIMENT Go back through this book and notice the things you have marked with your initials as next steps (see introduction)—perhaps ways to pray, dedicating your body. Pick out a few steps and examine how each one would help you connect with God and so move you down the road toward becoming a person who exhibits moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and agape love.
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