Professional Development

2 Peter 1:3-8 (NLT)

³ By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. ⁴ And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

⁵ In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, ⁶ and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, ⁷ and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
⁸ The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

When I read this passage, it makes me think of professional development for disciples of  Jesus Christ. This type of growth is guaranteed to make us more productive and useful for the Lord(v.8). Have you ever been sent away to special training to become more productive and useful in your work? It doesn't mean you are doing a bad job, just means there is an opportunity to learn and grow.  In these verses, we see tips for being more effective as a believer. Let's look at some of the truths in this passage:
#1. God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. Because we know Him, He has equipped us by His power. What excuses have we used for not acting in a godly way? Who have we blamed?
#2. He has given us great and precious promises that enable us to share his divine nature and escape the world's corruption caused by human desires. For example John 6:55-56 where Jesus says if we abide in Him, He abides in us and He promises us to raise us up to eternal life on the last day. What other promises come to mind?
#3. We can respond to His promises with these supplements to our faith: moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, patient endurance, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. Which ones are strengths? Which ones are a struggle to maintain?
Everything we need, great and precious promises, and supplements to our faith...clearly our Lord is eager for us to succeed! We can know/believe/trust that He has given us all we need for a godly life. We can cling to and claim His great and precious promises. We can ask Him to develop us in these supplements to our faith and expect that He will. Will you join me in praying that He make us more productive and useful?