“For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” – 2 Peter 1:8
If you’re genuinely saved from your sins by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ, then your salvation is 100% secure. You’re an adopted and sealed child of God and the devil can’t touch that! That’s the good news. The bad news is that with your salvation secure, you can still be utterly ineffective and unfruitful as a follower of Jesus. Far too many Christians are and that’s the devil’s top priority for any genuine child of God. That’s probably his top priority for you!
How can you protect yourself from this? The verses before this one list a number of qualities Christians should actively develop in their lives with God’s help. They include knowledge, virtue, godliness, self-control, steadfastness, brotherly affection, and love. These won’t come to you automatically. You have to work for them in the power of the Holy Spirit.
To be more effective and more fruitful, choose to be intentional about growing your knowledge of the Lord – both in your spiritual experiences and through intentional, daily study of the Bible. Develop virtue and godliness – reject sin in your life and work to imitate Jesus. Deepen your prayer life, worship habits, and meditation on Scripture. Self-control comes from the Holy Spirit over time as you refuse to give into the things that tempt your flesh and instead walk in step with the Holy Spirit.
Steadfastness comes as you endure hard trials in life and discover the comfort and profound certainty that Jesus is walking with you through them, sustaining and transforming you through them. Brotherly affection is your intentional choice to love, spend time with, and experience life with fellow believers in deep friendship and community. Most of the time you’ll need to do the hard work of seeking that out – it rarely happens by accident in our individualistic society. And then there’s love, Christlike, sacrificial love, even for those who may be difficult to love.
Developing these qualities isn’t easy. There is some pain in the process. They require discipline in how you use your time and energy. The choices you make day by day and moment by moment influence whether you are growing in them or not. As you increasingly make godly choices and develop these qualities, you’ll discover that you have more and more impact on the world for God’s glory and Christ’s Kingdom. You won’t need to worry about being ineffective or unfruitful because God will work powerfully through you. You will enjoy the purpose for which you were created as you faithfully #FollowJesus