“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to Your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge.”
(2 Peter 1:5)
At the moment of salvation the Holy Spirit comes to reside in the believer, sanctifying and guiding us in grace and truth. But these benefits of the spiritual life are not given to be hoarded. Those who have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit have received a new principle of life, and that life is to be expressed in loving, serving, and obeying God.
Expression of His grace in our life depends solely on His provision. God’s divine power supplies all that we need pertaining to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). Spiritual life itself is a gift, and every grace exercised within that life has been received from God. Faith, virtue, knowledge, and all other fruits of regeneration arise from His gracious work.
Yet the reception of grace creates an obligation to exercise it. Believers are commanded to give all diligence and to add to faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge. The presence of grace does not eliminate effort; it gives holy effort its proper foundation. God infuses the believer with spiritual life, and we are to act according to that life. We are to cultivate the graces received and devote our days to the service of God.
Living to God first includes a ready obedience to His commands. The godly person does not primarily seek opportunities for pleasure, profit, or worldly advancement, but desires to know and perform the will of God. There is a delight in His commandments and a readiness to follow them. Grace changes the direction of our desires so that obedience is the proper activity of the renewed heart.
Living to God also concerns the end for which obedience is performed. Because grace turns the heart toward God, the fruits of righteousness that come through Jesus Christ are directed to the praise and glory of God.
This gives Christian diligence its distinctly gracious character. The believer does not work in order to create spiritual life, but because spiritual life has already been given. He does not exercise grace in order to earn acceptance with God, but because divine grace has made him alive and fitted him for service. Every act of faithful obedience is therefore both a duty and the evidence of a gift already received.
We can be thankful that God has not left His people spiritually dead and then demanded life from them. He has given us what He commands us to use and to exercise.[1] He grants spiritual power, produces grace through regeneration, supplies what pertains to life and godliness, and directs the resulting fruit toward His own glory.
Contemplations:
- Thanking You for Giving Me Spiritual Life. I thank You that the life by which I love, serve, and obey You did not begin in me. You gave it by Your Spirit. Your divine power has supplied what pertains to life and godliness. Every sincere desire to know You, every motion toward holiness, and every willingness to obey has its beginning in Your grace. I praise You that regeneration is Your work and that the spiritual life I now possess is evidence of Your mercy. Whatever grace is active in me first came from Your hand.
- Thanking You for Grace That Can Be Exercised. You have given grace and You call me to exercise what You have supplied, to cultivate, use, and strengthen Your grace in me. I thank You that faith may grow into virtue, virtue into knowledge, and each grace may become more active through diligent obedience. I am grateful that the life You give is living, active, and capable of increasing usefulness in Your service.
- Thanking You for a Heart Directed Toward Obedience. Sin directed my desires toward myself, but Your grace turns me toward You. You teach me to delight in Your commandments and to value Your will above opportunities for pleasure, profit, or advancement. I am thankful that obedience is not something imposed from without but rather grows out of You work within the heart so that there is a real desire to know, believe, and follow Your Word.
- Thanking You That My Life May Glorify You. You have given my obedience a higher purpose—fruits of righteousness that are to Your praise and glory. Through Your grace, ordinary acts of obedience may honor Your name. Keep me mindful that every grace exercised, every command obeyed, and every righteous fruit produced belongs finally to Your praise.
Prayer (Thanksgiving):
Gracious God, thank You for the spiritual life You have given through Your Holy Spirit. I did not create this life within myself. Your divine power has supplied all things that pertain to life and godliness, and every true grace I possess comes from You.
I thank You for faith, virtue, knowledge, and every other grace Your Spirit produces. You do not simply command holiness, You also provide the inward principle from which holy obedience proceeds. Through Your Spirit You make it possible for me to love, serve, and obey You.
I praise You that the grace You give is meant to be exercised. Every opportunity to practice faith, increase in virtue, grow in knowledge, and obey Your Word is another occasion to use what Your mercy has provided.
Thank You for changing the direction of my heart. Sin bends me toward self, but Your grace inclines me toward You. You teach me to delight in Your commandments and to desire a life ordered according to Your will.
Through Jesus Christ, receive my thanksgiving for every grace given, every holy desire awakened, and every good work produced by Your Spirit. Let all that You have worked in me return in praise to You.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Further Scripture References:
Phil. 4:8; Rom. 12:9; James 1:17; John 17:3
[1] Thomas Manton, The Complete Works of Thomas Manton, vol. 11 (London: James Nisbet & Co., 1873), 229-230.
