For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 2 Peter 1v5-7 ESV
Self-control and steadfastness are so closely related that you really can’t have one without the other. To gain control over a certain habit we need to be steadfast in our efforts. Steadfastness means to be diligent, to endure and to persevere.
If you want to lose weight you need to control your food intake not just for 1 or 2 days, but for however long it takes to get to your weight loss goal. You then need to maintain the loss by diligently controlling your appetite.
If you want to get fit you need to sacrifice your free time, go to the gym and then work out for weeks, months and really the rest of your life if you want to maintain your level of fitness.
To gain a degree or any other certificate of learning you have to plan your time, sacrifice certain pleasures for study and then keep going until the end of the course.
These are 3 areas of my physical/natural life where I’ve needed, and continue to need, self-control and steadfastness. It is exactly the same principle in our spiritual life and pursuit of God.
Peter is urging us to pursue steadfastness in our Christian walk. Real lasting progress comes by sticking the course, enduring the pain of growth, and being diligent in our use of the time and resources that God has given us.
Steadfastness is hard, tough work. There are no short cuts to spiritual growth, just like there are no short cuts to becoming a world-class athlete or a concert pianist. You may have a natural aptitude for something, but that will only take you so far. It will get you off to a good start, but unless you are willing to make personal sacrifices and stay the course, you’ll never make it. Healthy habits, self-sacrifice, routines and practise, practise, practise is what gets you to the place where you are the top of your league.
Mature, Godly Christians are not born, or born again in that state. They have had to pursue God and keep pursuing Him through the good times and the bad. They haven’t given up when what seems like insurmountable difficulties have arisen. They have prayed for understanding and have applied the principles of God’s Word, and then they have had to endure the days, months or years that it will take to overcome whatever that problem may be. Sometimes the answer comes quickly, but in my experience the answers are a long time coming! This is not because God is slow or reluctant to answer, but because it is during the times of waiting that our relationship with Him can be developed and matured.
This is a difficulty in our fast paced, quick fix, instant gratification, no time to wait society. We want fast food, fast cars and a quick answer to our prayers. We don’t want long conversations; a quick text will do. We don’t want to put that much time or effort into anything that will stop us from doing what we want to do, or go where we want to go.
But God is not a genie in a bottle ready to declare “Your wish is my command!” Neither is He our personal assistant ready to jump to attention whenever we call or snap our fingers. He is The Lord God Almighty, the Creator of Heaven and Earth. He is also our lovingly Heavenly Father, our Saviour and the Lover of our Souls. He wants to draw near to us and teach us His eternal ways. But to learn them we need to put in the time and effort to listen and obey.
In the Old Testament, the Children of Israel were continually exhorted to diligently listen and obey God’s commandments. If they wanted God’s continued blessing and presence among them, they had to be diligent, steadfast and enduring with all that God had called them to do. Many refused, died in the wilderness or moaned and complained their way through the promised land.
In the New Testament Jesus gives us the same command to diligently listen and obey. This is illustrated in the parable of the wise and foolish builder. (Mathew 7v24-27) If you want a life that will withstand the onslaught of the enemy you have to listen and apply the Word of God. It is the only way to grow spiritually and experience the joy of walking intimately with God. We cannot obey God when it’s convenient and relatively easy to do so, and then do our own thing when it’s not. We have to persevere in both listening and obeying if we want to know God.
We need to develop healthy habits of regular Bible reading, fellowship and prayer. This is listening. We then need to persevere in our battles with our own personal besetting sins, and the work that God has given us to do. This is obeying.
To develop steadfastness, we need to constantly encourage ourselves and others around us to keep on keeping on. We need to stand and keep standing, and fight and keep fighting. The goal of being conformed to the image of Christ is ours for the taking, but only if we persevere and refuse to give up.
