Increasing Measure

I was just sitting in the bathtub thinking about 2 Peter 1:5-8. Awhile ago I had spent a long time examining these verses and found it interesting the order the godly qualities were listed. Actually, the qualities are not just listed; they each build on the other. So you know what I’m talking about:

“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.”

I found the qualities interesting because I believe that is the order in which they develop in the life of a believer. The order is logical. Typically when people turn their life over to Christ, they have a strong desire for goodness. Eventually they become knowledgeable in the Word. It isn’t until after having that knowledge that they want to exhibit self-control; they’ve now learned what pleases and displeases God. Of course perseverance develops after a person learns to continually demonstrate self-control. Again, it makes sense that perseverance in our faith leads to godliness. What is more interesting is that I believe it is after we possess godliness (to some degree) we truly learn what brotherly kindness is; before this it is all out of selfish intentions. And while love seems to be the obvious quality, I think it isn’t until a Christian matures much more that Christianity is stripped down into its ultimate picture—love. It’s after all those qualities that we stop and think, “Oh . . . all of this is because of love. Because He loved us and because we love Him. And because we love others.” (This is what I have found to be true in my life.)

At least that’s my opinion of the verses. I guess the qualities could be in a random order. However, this seems unlikely since Peter describes each one being added to the other.

It was when I was first memorizing and learning these verses that verse 8 really caught my attention. I love it: “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.” The words that stand out to me are “ineffective” and “unproductive”. Almost every day now I think about how I want to be an effective and productive follower of Christ. That verse gives me such purpose and drive to live out what I believe.

Okay, to the point . . . Today, as I was taking a relaxing bath, a new perspective took shape. I noticed the words “in increasing measure.” I first thanked God that He doesn’t expect us to have all the qualities right away. That’s part of the growing process. But I mostly looked at the word “increasing”. I first thought of this word as a synonym for “abundant”—like we were to have a large amount of each of those qualities. But that’s not what it means. “Increasing” implies that the qualities should forever be growing. In our lives there are times when we plateau or maybe even “decrease,” but it’s the increase that keeps us effective and productive. Then I think back to verse 5: “make every effort.” I just really like the picture those words create. I am going to make every effort to increase those qualities (goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love) in my life so that I can be an EFFECTIVE and PRODUCTIVE child of God.