Virtues of the Peace-filled Life

In our series on examining “peace” as a result of knowing and enjoying God, we’re considering the prerequisites for being filled with God’s peace. Number one - a person must be a follower of Jesus. Second – it is a gift of God, a fact supported by Galatians 5:22, The fruit of the Spirit is … peace….

God is responsible for our salvation and sanctification but we’re responsible for developing character and good habits (both sources leading to a deep peace of mind.)

Second Peter 1:3-4 reminds us of God’s gifting aspect of peace.
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.

Peace – a God-given gift. That is His part. Our part, our responsibility in procuring God’s peace is found in following Peter’s instructions in 2 Peter 1. verses 5-11. The passage 5-7 could be entitled “virtues that produce a well-rounded fruitful Christian life.” Let's look at it together.

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.

The stair step structure of these three verses indicate each virtue leading to another, though the sequence is not stressed. In other words, moral excellence doesn’t produce knowledge. However the list begins with faith, which is the foundation for a walk with Christ, and ends with love being the pinnacle of the virtues.

In tomorrow’s post we’ll examine these virtues.