Focus: The Spiritual Attire Of Faith

Text: 2Pet.1:5-6

"And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your FAITH VIRTUE; and to virtue KNOWLEDGE; And to knowledge TEMPERANCE; and to temperance PATIENCE; and to patience GODLINESS; And to godliness BROTHERLY KINDNESS; and to brotherly kindness CHARITY."

Apostle Peter, by divine inspiration, is calling us to spiritual action. He doesn't want us to have the kind of faith that only prompts a momentary enthusiasm and a lifetime of spiritual inertia - faith that is not making any significant progress in our earthly journey. Peter is requiring of us to bring alongside God's sovereign grace our supreme effort in advancing our faith.

The Greek word for diligence here is 'spoude,' which means 'zeal, urgency, speed, haste, industry, pursuit, seriousness, effort, earnestness, business.' It is a call for us to collaborate or cooperate with God in projecting a glowing faith in front of the watching world of men and women, for faith without work is dead.

It is important for us to know that sanctification is "a work of God in which believers co-operate" (Phil.2:13; Rom.8:13). 

In other words, human activity is never ruled out in the matter of spiritual growth. Peter is calling for an active and a progressive Christianity.

In the whole epistle, this is the maths chapter. You can call it a chapter on spiritual arithmetic. Verse two talks about multiplied grace; verse five is about adding to faith; and verse nine is about purging oneself, which means taking away from oneself, removing or subtracting from one's life what was never meant to be there in the first place. It's a wrong addition that needs to be taken out. It's taking out what neither fits nor belongs there. It's a call for us to make and wear our spiritual robe of faith in its variegated glory.

We are called to enter the beauty shop of faith. In that shop we shall find the total wardrobe and makeup kit of faith. This attire of faith is a seven-piece of flowing outfit. It's like Joseph's coat of many colors. Remember how one attire from Joseph's wardrobe made news and raised eyebrows? The world will notice you in your attire of faith. No Christian should be lacking this awesome spiritual embroidery.

Faith is never complete, being alone. Lonely faith is a deficient faith. God delights in a glowing faith; faith that is radiant and majestic, wholesome and winsome; optical and ethical faith.

Peter calls on us to spend on your faith, and to invest all our energy in adding to our faith. He urges us to pay a high cost of growing our faith. He says in essence, 'Give it all you've got to ensure that your faith is sufficiently supplied to and adequately sustained.' William Barclay translates, "Bend all your energy to the task of equipping your faith with courage…" 

Do all that is necessary to solidify your faith and make it attractive! It is not just one time action, but something you must keep doing as the need arises - a constant and consistent effort. Peter calls on us to maximize our faith's value. Nothing less than faith at its peak is desirable. We can't afford to settle for a minimum faith. Our faith is never meant to miss a thing. 

Paul desired earnestly to visit the church in Thessaloniki for the purpose of perfecting "that which is lacking in your faith?" (1Thes.3:10). Our faith must not miss any moral or spiritual ingredients. A lackluster faith will not win a soul. Our faith requires other constituent elements. Faith devoid of love lacks beauty. James Moffatt said, quoting another, "The Christian life must not be an initial spasm followed by a chronic inertia." 

No one succeeds in the task of soul-winning with a fluctuating faith. Questionable faith is incapable of providing answers. Our faith as Christians must be well-built, well-equipped, and well-rounded, like David's smooth stone that brought Goliath down.

We must bring alongside our faith or what God has already done in us every ounce of our energy and every iota of determination that we can muster in order to concretize and beautify our faith in Christ.

Lavish on your faith a great deal of spiritual generosity! You are spiritually rich enough to sponsor yourself in this divine project of spiritual beauty parade. Faith without love is an ugly faith; it lacks moral beauty and the charm of grace. The world wants to see your rich wardrobe of spiritual attire - the multi-colored moral fabric of faith. It's a well-knitted rainbow color dress, consisting of virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity.

Bishop Moses E. Peter