… to add to your faith goodness …
Summary: Faith is that precious gift of knowing Jesus Christ personally. Goodness is what we do with it.
How do you add goodness to your faith? That is the question posed by Peter’s words. What could he possibly mean?
We have already discussed this faith that Peter is referring to. It is the same faith in Jesus Christ that Peter has. Like our faith in the bridges we drive our cars across, we have faith that Jesus will carry us from a world of corruption to heaven.
Is faith enough?
If you stand on one end of the bridge and proclaim your faith but refuse to step out on it, is your faith any good? Peter wants us to step out onto the bridge, onto Jesus himself. Trusting that God will reward us if we do good in the midst of an evil, undeserving world.
Goodness is a response to evil. If you respond to someone doing a good thing for you with a “thank you,” that is not “doing good.” That is simply common courtesy. If you respond to someone who has offended you or hurt you by doing or saying something good, that is goodness.
Adding goodness to our faith is acknowledging what James wrote:
“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? “ (James 2:14)
And what does Jesus himself say?
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5: 43-48)
Trusting Jesus is more than just saying a few words. It is overcoming the feeling that we have the right to determine what is just and what is unjust. It is overcoming the urge to get revenge or get even. Trusting Jesus is trusting that his Justice is sufficient.
Application: Practice doing good in the face of the evil that is all around us.
Food for Thought: How do you define “goodness?”
I think one definition of goodness in this verse is: Something that is done to enrich another’s life (make it better) as a gracious or free act of the will.
Wow. Nicely said!
09-12-2021, 2 Peter 1:5c, How do you define “goodness?”
Christ in each of us is the Light of goodness, righteousness and truth, which is seen by others as we submit to the Lord and demonstrate the fruit of the Holy Spirit toward all.
Galatians 5:22-24
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Ephesians 5:8-9, For once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of Light [live as those who are native-born to the Light] 9 for the fruit the effect, the result of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth.
Ron,
You bring to mind the first chapter of John. He writes:
“ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.”
(John 1:4)
Jesus truly is the light of the world, and that light which shines through us is what we call goodness.
Well said!