I remember shoveling snow off the basketball courts on Saturday mornings when I was young. I had just learned some new moves, and I was doing okay, but I needed to do this crossover better. I needed to follow through a little better. I would shoot 50 or 75 foul shots. You always have to keep improving; you never stop.
Peter talks about this mentality in our spiritual life. “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:5-8, ESV).
We already have faith, but it's telling us to make every effort to add these to our faith. There’s no special order to these qualities, as far as I can make out; but he’s saying that these are godly qualities the Spirit grows in us. Not only that, Peter was saying, “Add to them.”
These verses also tell me that you can be a Christian and be ineffective because you’re not growing. You reached some point in your Christian walk and thought, “Okay, I made it. I know the Bible well enough. I’ll stop here.” You can’t. The moment you try to stop, you go backward. Also, don’t be content with just being strong in one area. Some people are great at giving, but their temper is out of control. Other people know their Bible very well; they’re devoted to the scriptures, but they’re tight as a crab, no generosity.
This is why Peter said to make every effort to grow! Now, here’s the mystery. God has to do everything in us, but we must make every effort. Remember, “Whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). God doesn’t bless people who don’t reach after him.
Let us say, “God, give me grace. I want more. I have some wisdom you’ve given me; I want more. I’ve learned to pray, but I want to do it better. Help me to make every effort to grow and add to what you’ve already given me.”