In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence (goodness), and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:5-8 (NLT)

This list makes my head spin. I gloss over the words, not absorbing their meaning. So let’s skip the list for now and focus on the statements on either side of it – the instruction and the goal.

In view of all this, respond to God’s promises so that your [full acquaintance with] Jesus will become productive and useful.

‘In view of all this’ summarizes verses 3-4: God has provided everything we need to resist the world and participate in God’s divine nature.

Here’s my paraphrase:
• Believe that God has provided everything we need to live out our salvation through Jesus.
• In faith, begin practicing the goodness (moral behavior) that Jesus modeled while also learning more about God (adding knowledge).
• Exhibit self-control in transforming old thought patterns and behaviors to align with this new knowledge of God’s character.
• Even if these challenging adjustments don’t yield immediate benefits, be patient and persist in godly behavior.
• Increase godly, brotherly love to be love that includes everyone like Jesus did.
• As you grow through the process, your increased awareness of God and deepening relationship with Him positions you to be truly useful and productive to spread His Kingdom.

A deepening relationship with Jesus positions us to spread His Kingdom.

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