Love Is A House

-

“Once upon a time” (I always wanted to say that 😊), you heard the gospel and gave your life to Christ. That part may have seemed simple enough, but how do you go from living for yourself to living for Him? Faith marks the beginning of the Christian life but it was never meant to stop there. Faith is meant to grow into something more. It’s like the foundation of a house. The foundation matters, but it was always designed to support a finished structure. Faith is the foundation and love is the house that mature faith becomes.


That’s the picture we see in 2 Peter 1:5-7. Christians are encouraged to build on their faith with qualities like virtue, knowledge, self control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. These qualities are not replacements for faith. They’re the evidence that faith is alive and growing. Genuine faith doesn’t stay stagnant. Over time, it becomes visible in the way a person thinks, lives, and treats others.


Virtue matters because it’s the first visible evidence that faith is becoming real in everyday life. A person who pursues virtue starts becoming more aware of God’s truth, which leads to knowledge. That knowledge then calls for discipline because the more we understand God, the more we recognize the need to bring our desires and actions under His authority. Self control produces steadfastness by teaching us how to remain faithful even when obedience becomes difficult. And steadfastness develops into godliness because consistency over time shapes a life that reflects Christ. From there, godliness begins changing how we see and treat people, producing brotherly affection and ultimately love.


And that’s the goal of it all. Love is not the starting point of spiritual maturity. It’s the result of a faith that has been refined, stretched, corrected, and shaped by God over time. As we mature in Christ, faith grows into virtue, deepens through knowledge, strengthens through self control, and ultimately matures into love. It becomes a love the world can actually see because it’s flowing from a life that reflects the character of Christ.


Think about it.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Do Your Prayers Tell on You?

-
Do you remember the story Jesus told about two men who went to the temple to pray? One was a Pharisee who thanked God that he wasn’t like other people and proudly listed the things he did right. The other was a tax collector who simply acknowledged his sin and asked God for mercy (Luke 18:9-14). It’s easy to see the problem in the Pharisee’s prayer, but what if we turned the microscope on ourselves? If we took an honest look at our own prayers, what would they reveal about us? So let’s have a little fun and see if we’re more like the Pharisee or the tax collector. The Prayer Life Test For each question give yourself: 2 points  — Often/Yes 1 point  — Sometimes 0 points  — Rarely/No 1) When you pray, how often do you spend time thanking God before asking Him for something? 2) How often do your prayers focus on other people’s needs rather than primarily your own? 3) When you face a difficult situation, do you primarily pray for God to change the situation, or do you ask Him ...
Read more

Passenger Seat Faith & The Trinity

-
It was such a beautiful Saturday morning I just had to lean my head out the window and soak in the sun. My wife was driving and I could sense a little envy for what she calls being a passenger prince. I call it no stress driving because for me  there’s no traffic, no red lights   and no pretending I know where we’re going. My attention was on the sun, a good breeze and good vibes. The only thing disturbing my peace was a podcast playing in the background but as I reached to change the station one of the hosts said, “The Trinity just doesn’t make sense.”  That got my attention. One God and three persons can sound confusing at first and if we’re being real, it can feel like something you’re not supposed to question. But the more I thought about it the more I realized this isn’t about figuring God out on our terms. It’s about understanding what He has already revealed. The Bible is clear that there’s only one God. Deut 6:4 says “…The Lord our God the Lord is one.” That truth...
Read more

Tick Tock. Tick Tock

-
“Another one,” I said to myself while staring at my newest gray hair. “Now I’m matching on all levels,” I sighed as I realized my eyebrows were starting to join the party. The only thing keeping me from looking like a box of Uncle Ben’s Rice was the hair dye sitting on the counter. That was 25 years ago and Father Time loves to remind me his steady march continues. Nowadays it takes a good 5 minute stretch just to work my kinks out and thoughts of beating my grandsons in sports are quickly fading. If you’re like me, you wish you could keep the looks and vitality of youth but I’ve come to realize the aging of our bodies is a daily alarm for us to get right.   We all know people who live the same sinful lifestyle they did when you first met them. Hugh Hefner was 91 years old when he died. Supposedly, he lived exactly how he did when he was in his twenties until the very end. To see someone reject the gift of enteral life because they’re too caught up in this one is disheartening. How...
Read more