ADD TO YOUR VIRTUE KNOWLEDGE - 2 Peter 1:5
2 Peter 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
Faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity are eight qualities that Peter calls the great and precious promises. These eight qualities are a gift from God to enable you to be partakers of the divine nature. However, these eight gifts are not passive in nature but require that you diligently apply them to your life.
For the last year, you have been studying the third of these eight precious promises, knowledge. The knowledge God desires that you add to your faith and virtue is the knowledge of the ways of God. God desires that you take the time to read, memorize, and meditate upon HIS words so that you understand not only what HE has told you to do, but why you are expected to do it.
Faith requires a personal relationship with God so that you can learn to hear HIS still small voice. Faith and knowledge of the ways of God are very closely connected. Those who exercised great faith understood the power of God and simply put their trust in God and asked HIM to do impossible things through them. Faith is getting out of the way of God and watching HIS power and strength in your life.
Virtue requires you to put on the mind of Christ, by filling your mind with those things that are pleasing to God. The things God desires you to fill your mind with are those things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of a good report. As you fill your mind with the things of God, you will naturally draw closer to God. Because you are fighting the battle of filling your mind with the things that are pleasing to God, you can have great victories over sin.
While one would argue that knowledge of the ways of God is an important aspect of both faith and virtue since how can you have great faith without knowledge and how can you think on the things of God unless you first understand what they are, knowledge is third on this list of precious promises. Remember, your Christian walk starts with faith. Faith requires a blind trust in a God that you will not see with physical eyes. Once you accept Christ as your personal Savior, then there needs to be a transforming of your life that comes by virtue.
You have seen someone who has just recently been saved go out and do great and mighty things for God. However, as they mature in the faith, you see them not being so vigorous for the cause of Christ. The problem is often that as you mature in your walk with the Lord, Satan is able to get you to do less for God because you lose sight of the power of God in your life. You are like Peter who was willing to walk on water but quickly sank when he saw the waves.
Adding knowledge to your faith and virtue is an important step to keeping you in the spiritual battles that God has called you to. As you study the ways of God, you learn what HE can do through you and thus should bolster your faith so that you continue to do great things for HIM. As you study the ways of God, you will further understand the mind of Christ and how God desires you to further renew your mind and transform your life for HIS glory.
Knowledge is only one of eight precious promises. You are to add knowledge of the ways of God to both your faith and virtue. As a Christian, God desires that you continue to grow closer to HIM. God desires that you accept HIS precious promises and apply them to your life. Once you understand knowledge, God desires that you diligently add temperance to your Christian walk.