Day 5 — Make Every Effort

Opening Prayer

Lord God, you have given me everything I need for a godly life through knowing Jesus. As I read, deepen my trust in your promises and strengthen me to make every effort in the power of your grace. Make my life fruitful in the knowledge of Christ. Amen.

Headline

God’s sufficient grace does not replace our effort; it makes purposeful growth in Christlike character possible.

2 Peter 1:3-8

Comment

Yesterday, we saw that Christian growth is the fruit of the Holy Spirit as we learn to walk and keep in step with him. But dependence on the Spirit does not make us passive. Today Peter shows us the active shape of Spirit-enabled growth: because God has already given us everything we need, we can make every effort to develop Christlike character.

“Make every effort” (v.5) is a bracing conclusion to our first week. After insisting that change begins with Jesus, depends on God’s work and is produced by the Spirit, Scripture tells us to exert ourselves. Biblical grace is opposed to earning, but not to effort.

Peter places the statements in the right order. Before our effort comes God’s provision: “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life” (v.3). Before our moral progress come God’s call, glory, goodness and promises. We do not add virtue to faith to persuade God to save us. Because he has acted decisively in Christ, we can participate in the new life he gives and escape the corruption produced by disordered desire.

Then comes purposeful training. Faith is to be accompanied by goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection and love. Peter is not describing a rigid ladder on which one quality must be completed before the next begins. He gives a many-sided portrait of mature discipleship, culminating in love.

This helps us understand Rebecca DeYoung’s account of character in Glittering Vices. Virtues and vices become settled through practice. Early acts of patience or generosity may feel awkward, costly or even artificial. That does not make them hypocritical. A learner practises scales before playing music freely; an athlete repeats movements until they become instinctive. In the same way, grace-enabled practices train our desires and responses towards Christlike freedom.

The list of vices arose from pastoral observation. Christians watched recurring temptations, named the deep patterns beneath them and developed practices that opened their lives to God’s transforming grace. Their aim was not fascination with sin, but accurate diagnosis for the sake of healing. As DeYoung stresses, sin is neither the first nor the last word about us; God’s love is.

Effort therefore needs direction. Simply trying harder can reinforce pride or discourage us when change is slow. Peter directs effort towards qualities God values, nourished by God’s promises and exercised within the knowledge of Christ. We learn self-control by refusing a disordered desire; perseverance by remaining faithful when the new path is difficult; mutual affection and love by seeking another person’s good.

Growth is expected but gradual: we possess these qualities “in increasing measure” (v.8). That phrase protects us from perfectionism and complacency. We should not despise small beginnings, nor declare that we have arrived. The question is not whether our character is complete, but whether, by grace, it is increasingly fruitful.

Why does God want me to hear this today? Perhaps because I am waiting to feel different before I practise a different way of living. God’s promises invite me to begin. I do not need to engineer a total transformation today. I can make every effort in one faithful practice, trusting that divine power has already supplied everything necessary for a life that increasingly reflects Jesus.

Reflect

• What has God already given and done before Peter commands us to make every effort?
• Which quality in verses 5-7 most needs to increase in your present circumstances?
• How can you distinguish grace-enabled effort from anxious self-improvement?

Action

Choose one quality from verses 5-7 to practise for the next week. Write one small, repeatable action connected with it and decide when you will do it. Tell one Christian friend and ask them to pray for you. Begin today, relying consciously on God’s divine power and precious promises.

Closing Prayer

Gracious God, thank you that your divine power has given me everything I need for a godly life through knowing Jesus. Save me from passivity, pride and perfectionism. Help me make every effort in the strength you supply. Grow goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection and love in me, so that my life may be fruitful for Christ’s glory. Amen.