Take your "vitamins"

We're continuing in II Peter this week, and I hope our title got your attention and started you thinking! (Grin)

Here is our focus passage for our studies:

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. (II Peter 1:5-9)

If our commercials on television are to be believed, humans are obsessed now with good health and longevity. With increased energy and "turning back the years." With staying active and vibrant, and living the "good life."
And, indeed, the vitamins and supplements industry rakes in over 30 billion dollars each and every year! There are multivitamins, nutritional supplements, powdered formulas for smoothies, and whatever the "mineral of the month" may be.... there are health and fitness centers, gymnasiums, and exercise clubs everywhere we look -- that is another industry that takes in billions each year.  Many plan their travels to include wellness centers and spas across the globe. And residential communities and corporations both strive to keep their people healthy and moving well.
Athletes on the professional level may use supplements to "get an edge" on their competition. Pregnant mothers routinely take special vitamins to ensure their health and the health of their child. We may be encouraged by our doctor to take a supplement to provide nutrients that we are not consuming in sufficient volume in our diet.

With all this talk of amino acids, proteins, good fats and bad, and vitamins, I'd like to ask you: did you know there are spiritual "vitamins" too? Spiritual supplements for our growth as Christians. Peter mentions them in our focus passage. He lists seven different supplements, and he tells us to be diligent! To make every effort to add these to our faith.

Years before Peter wrote these words, Jesus told Nicodemas that "unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3)  A child is born and then begins to grow....once we are born again, we begin to grow spiritually. If there's no growth, then there is really no life.

Our spiritual growth depends in large part on our spiritual "diet." Many Christians don't work at having a balanced spiritual diet, so they are not as healthy as they could be. There's too much of one thing, and not enough of another. In order for us to be fruitful and effective for the Lord, we must pay attention to our spiritual diet, and to the "vitamins" that Peter lists here! In the first few verses of this chapter, we saw that God has generously provided us with all the things that we need, in order to live a holy life for Him. Now Peter is telling us there is some personal responsibility on our parts.

Please add this passage to your daily readings this week; maybe even write it on a card to take with you each day. We'll study here and try to make some applications that will help us in our daily walk with Him.