It Doesn't Stop at Faith

2 Peter 1:5-11

Choosing to accept Christ into our hearts and receive His grace and forgiveness is the most important and precious decision we can make in all of our spiritual lives. However, our walk with God should not end once that moment passes. Rather, it should be a decision that projects us into a deep and intimate relationship with the Lord, leading us to experience this same grace in new ways every single day.

Being a Christian in my early 20s, something I have noticed is that there are a lot of people my age who stop at faith. They have made the choice to accept Christ into their hearts, they believe in God and in His forgiveness, but they stop there. They label themselves as Christians but continue to live life the same way and fail to grow in their personal relationship with God.

There have certainly been times where I have been in a place like this, but I have realized that failing to go deep with God prevents us from experiencing the fullness of life that He wants to give us. One of my favorite Bible verses is John 10:10. It says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Having faith is a beautiful thing that a lot of people in this world lack, but why stop at faith when God has so much more for us?

Just like any other relationship, our relationship with God takes effort. Faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love are not attributes that come to us immediately, but qualities that build upon each other as we deepen our relationship with God. Seeing these virtues appear in our lives in new ways is evidence of God’s transforming power in our hearts.

Verse 9 brings us to an important point. It says, “For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sin.” In order to experience the abundance of life God wants to give us, we need to develop an eternal mindset, always keeping eternity and God’s never-ending grace in view.

There have been moments in my life where I have felt God’s grace so evidently that it actually felt like a physical weight was being lifted off my shoulders. However, as time goes by, I find myself getting wrapped up in the busyness of life and forgetting these moments, once again preventing myself from fully experiencing the abundance of life with God.

God doesn’t want just a one-time experience with us. He wants us to come to Him every single day with every single struggle we face. He wants to draw us closer to His heart through all that we do, so don’t stop at faith. Let God’s grace fill your hearts, not just in that initial moment where you accept him, not just on Sunday mornings, but every single day.

Carmen K