For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 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. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
2 Peter 1:5-9

Man, the seriousness of this passage hit me today when I read it. One of my first observations about the passage is that there are certain steps that must be taken in order for a Christian not to be ineffective and unproductive in our faith. We must do something; we can’t just float on by without being intentional about our faith in Jesus.

The second thing that I made note of was that Peter considered the person who didn’t have these qualities growing in their life to have effectively forgotten that God has saved us. Holy crap! To forget that we have been cleansed from our past sins is the same as not believing that Christ died for our sins. That’s about the worst thing possible. I don’t want to be the person who is essentially not saved!

So, how do I avaoid that? Pray that the Lord would help develop these qualities (Christ-like character) in my life. And make every effort to act out these qualities.

Which of these qualities do you need to be working on today? What steps can you take to nuild these qualities up in your life?