December 29, 2025

Add to Your Faith (Part 9): The Entrance into the Eternal Kingdom

Add to Your Faith

Over the course of this study, we have been looking at qualities we are to add to our faith – moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. Now, we are going to wrap up the series by looking at Peter’s conclusion.

“For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you” (2 Peter 1:8-11).

Let us consider four points from the verses above.Continue Reading

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December 3, 2025

Our Daily Meditation

Man sitting by the water in autumn

When we think about what we can do as individuals to grow spiritually, a few obvious things come to mind: reading the Bible, studying, prayer, and so on. One practice mentioned throughout the Bible but often ignored today is meditation. Yet if we practice this correctly, it can greatly help us in our service to God.

Notice what the psalmist wrote:

“O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever mine. I have more insight than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation” (Psalm 119:97-99).

In this article, we are going to discuss meditation – what it is, how to do it, the benefits of it, and why it is a challenge to practice in the modern world.Continue Reading

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November 17, 2025

Add to Your Faith (Part 3): Add Knowledge

Add to Your Faith

As we continue our series about characteristics we are to add to our faith, we now turn our attention to knowledge. In the previous lesson, we discussed moral excellence or virtue, which is a moral goodness that can be seen by others. If we want to continue to grow in that quality, we must know what is good and right.

“Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:5-8).

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November 10, 2025

Add to Your Faith (Part 2): Add Moral Excellence

Add to Your Faith

The previous lesson was the start of a series about the characteristics we are to add to our faith. We began by noticing that faith must be the foundation for all that we do. Now we turn our attention to the qualities we are to add. These are not apart from faith, but are the characteristics we “supply” to our faith. The first trait Peter listed was moral excellence.

“Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:5-8).

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November 3, 2025

Add to Your Faith (Part 1): The Foundation of Faith

Add to Your Faith

At the beginning of his second epistle, Peter spoke of various qualities that Christians are to possess and continue to develop throughout their lives. He just reminded them that they had “escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust” (2 Peter 1:4), so they were to live differently from the world. But what would this look like? Notice the characteristics that he listed:

“Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:5-8).

All of these qualities are essential, and we will discuss them as we progress through this series. However, it is important to note at the beginning that these characteristics are built upon a foundation of FAITH. So as we begin, let us consider this foundation of faith upon which the character of a Christian must be built.Continue Reading

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January 1, 2025

Different Perspectives

Shadows

Each person has a different background, upbringing, life experience, education, and so on. Therefore, we approach things with a unique perspective. Because of this, people can look at one event, fact, or piece of information and react very differently. A simple example of this is in the realm of sports. A fan of one team can watch a game with a fan of the opposing team, and though there is just one outcome (one team wins the game), one fan will celebrate while the other is disappointed.

Following the Babylonian captivity, God’s people assembled in Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. When the foundation of the temple was completed, two contradictory reactions were made to it.

“Now when the builders had laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord according to the directions of King David of Israel. They sang, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, saying, ‘For He is good, for His lovingkindness is upon Israel forever.’ And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away” (Ezra 3:10-13).

This is an example of people viewing an event from different perspectives and reacting accordingly. Those who had never seen the first temple shouted for joy. Those who had seen the first temple and knew from personal experience the difference between the two wept.

This was not a matter of right and wrong. The people who rejoiced were not wrong to do so, nor was it wrong for the ones who wept to react the way they did. Yet the need at that moment was to build the new temple. Their different perspectives were understandable and were even fine to have as long as they did not hinder them from doing the work the Lord wanted them to do.Continue Reading

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November 20, 2024

Spiritual Disciplines

Bible and Notebook

“But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers” (1 Timothy 4:7-10).

People often talk about developing good habits, such as eating healthy, exercising regularly, and reading more books. Turning worthwhile practices into habits can be incredibly helpful because it allows us to do the good things we intend to do without having to decide to do so each time. This does not mean the practice becomes automatic, but we are much more likely to do good when we have made it a habit.

This can also benefit our spiritual lives, helping us grow to spiritual maturity. As Paul pointed out in the passage above, this is much more important than any discipline we develop in this life. However, to have effective habits, we need to be intentional about them and willing to put in the effort to actually DO them.

Also, these habits we can put in place to develop spiritually are things that each one of us can do, whether someone is a new convert, has recently been restored to the faith, or has been faithfully serving the Lord for decades. At the same time, no one can do these things for us.

So let us consider some spiritual disciplines – regular practices that will help our spiritual development and produce godliness in our lives. For each one, we see what the Lord expects of us, the benefits we gain from these practices, our personal responsibility to engage in each one, and some practical ways to help us stay consistent in doing them.Continue Reading

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