Day 43 — Given Everything, Make Every Effort

Opening Prayer

Gracious God, thank you that your divine power has given me everything I need for a godly life. Guard me from passive faith and anxious striving. As I hear your word, help me to depend upon your grace and make every effort to grow in the character of Christ. Amen.

Headline

Christian growth joins confident dependence upon God’s power with deliberate, persistent effort to become more like Christ.

2 Peter 1:1-11

1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:

² Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

³ His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ⁴ Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature,having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶ and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷ and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.⁸ For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

¹⁰ Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, ¹¹ and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Comment

Peter begins with gift, not demand. His readers have “received a faith as precious as ours” (v.1), and grace and peace are theirs through knowing Jesus. Before he tells them what to do, he reminds them what God has done: “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life” (v.3). Christian transformation begins with resources supplied by God, not strength manufactured within ourselves.

Those resources are not an impersonal spiritual force. They come through knowing Christ, receiving his promises and sharing in the life God gives. To participate in the divine nature does not mean that we become divine. It means that God draws us into fellowship with himself and increasingly forms his holy character in us, freeing us from desires that corrupt and diminish life.

Because God has acted, Peter gives a command that may initially sound surprising: “make every effort” (v.5). Grace does not make effort unnecessary; it makes faithful effort possible. We cannot earn God’s favour by cultivating virtue, but neither are we invited to wait passively for character to appear. The God who supplies the power calls us to exercise it—to make choices, practise new habits, resist old responses and begin again when we fail.

Peter describes growth as faith being furnished with goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection and love (vv.5–7). This is not a rigid ladder on which one quality must be completed before the next begins. Together they describe a maturing Christian character, with love as its goal. Nor does Peter expect instant arrival. He speaks of possessing these qualities “in increasing measure” (v.8). The question is not whether we have become flawless, but whether grace is producing real direction and growth.

This guards us against two equal and opposite mistakes. We may make transformation depend upon willpower, becoming proud when we succeed and despairing when we fail. Or we may use grace as an excuse for vague intentions and spiritual drift. Peter allows neither. God has given everything; therefore make every effort. Our effort depends at every point upon his prior grace, and his grace trains us into active obedience.

Verse 9 identifies another danger: forgetting that we have been “cleansed from [our] past sins”. Gospel forgetfulness makes growth either anxious or unnecessary. Remembering our cleansing produces a better diligence. We face our sin honestly because Christ has dealt with its guilt. We persevere because our identity rests in his call rather than our latest success. We practise virtue not to become acceptable, but because in Christ we have been received, cleansed and given a new future.

Peter therefore repeats, “make every effort to confirm your calling and election” (v.10). He is not suggesting that our effort creates God’s choice or completes Christ’s work. Rather, a growing life bears visible witness to the reality of God’s call and strengthens our assurance. The journey is long and sometimes messy, but it has a promised destination: “a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (v.11).

Why does God want me to hear this today? Perhaps because I am tempted either to expect change without intentional practice or to carry the burden of changing myself. God offers a better way. In Christ, he has already given me what I need, and by his Spirit he enables my next faithful step. I can make real effort without self-reliance and face slow progress without despair.

Reflect

• Are you more likely to approach spiritual growth passively or to rely anxiously upon your own effort?
• Which quality in verses 5–7 most needs deliberate attention in your life at present?
• How does remembering that you have been cleansed from sin change the way you face slow or uneven progress?

Action

Choose one quality from verses 5–7 and one small practice through which to exercise it this week. Make the practice specific enough to do and modest enough to repeat. Before beginning, thank God for one promise or gift in verses 1–4, and ask his Spirit to work through your effort rather than allowing the practice to become an exercise in self-reliance.

Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank you that I have received precious faith, been cleansed from sin and been given everything I need for a godly life. Forgive my passivity and my self-reliance. By your Spirit, form goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection and love in me. Help me to make every effort in the strength you provide, until you welcome me into your eternal kingdom. Amen.