2nd Peter 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. 8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This passage of scripture teaches us that God wants to develop in each of us, a fine balance of character so that we can better reflect His image from day to day. The word "Add" is used, meaning that sanctification is an ongoing process from which we can never graduate in this life. We are to continually grow in knowledge and practice as it pertains to the active Christian virtues mentioned in our passage for today, and this can only be done by the effectual working of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, guiding, instructing, cleansing, reproving, correcting, strengthening, and writing the law of God in our minds. This work of balanced development is the example set by Christ for all of us to follow. Let's read:
Luke 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
To increase in wisdom and stature means that Jesus developed symmetrically, with all of the Godly characteristics manifested in Him being finely tuned. A good example of what the Bible is speaking about can be observed in the miracle of the loaves and the fishes. Let's read:
John 6:10 And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. 12 When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
In this experience here we see that Jesus is organized in whatever He does, for He made the people to sit down in groups of fifty in an orderly manner. He did not use the man-made system of first come, first served, for then there would have been a wild rush for the food that was to be distributed, and then the women and children would likely be crushed in the process, for as the saying goes "A hungry man is an angry man".
Christ also commanded the disciples to gather up the fragments, which tells us that He is also neat and tidy in all of His works, for though He manifested the Godly characteristic of kindness by feeding the people, He was not in favor of littering the place with the leftovers carelessly strewn about, for stray dogs and flies to then have a feeding frenzy. This same characteristic of tidiness was seen when He arose from the tomb, for the disciples found His grave clothes neatly folded by themselves, even though He was never going to use them again.
The life, and teachings of Christ contain very valuable lessons for us, especially in the area of symmetry of character, for many Christians are unbalanced in their character development, and thus the Scriptures encourage us to look to Jesus as our example in these things. We are not to be found groveling in our inefficiencies, neither are we to lower the Biblical standard of righteousness in order to accommodate our shortcomings, for the same Bible tells us that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
We therefore end with a passage of scripture which encourages us to take up immediately, the development of our characters faithfully, for God will help all those who seek Him in earnest. Let's read:
Isaiah 55:6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
May the Lord be with us as we endeavor by His grace to cooperate with Him in this very important work. God bless!