Step by Step

As I was reading 2 Peter this morning, I was intrigued by verses 5-7 in chapter 1:

"..add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love."

We want things here and now. We don't want to wait for the internet page to load, so we order high speed. We don't want to put the energy into exercising to lose weight so we go on a smoothie-diet. We don't want to actually take the time to read the book for English class so we look for the summary on Sparknotes.com. We don't want to take the time, insert the energy, go through the steps. We want the results here and now, no waiting, no hassle, "no problemas". 

But God didn't intend for things to come easily; for us to obtain everything we wanted at the wiggle of our nose, and a blink of the eye. We are supposed to go through trials, gain the knowledge, and wisdom, the discernment we need as much as we need for what we go through. Yet we still get frustrated. We get frustrated with our lives, and the problems we have, when all that comes from them is blessing and growth. Both mentally, and when looking to and seeking out God through them, spiritually.

If I was to skip all of the steps that comes with having brotherly love, such as knowledge and self-control, I wouldn't know how to do it. I might think I know of the ways to show my brother, or sister that I love them, but in all honesty, I would be completely lost. There's a reason Peter described these things adding onto each as he did. You cannot have the next without the former. You cannot obtain knowledge and use it to benefit others unless you have virtue. You cannot have self-control without the knowledge of what to do to maintain it. You wouldn't be able to persevere in self-control without first having the knowledge of it. You wouldn't be able to obtain godliness without exercising the perseverance of self-control. You wouldn't be able  to show brotherly kindness without practicing self-control and persevering in it. And brotherly love stems from brotherly kindness, as when putting another first grows the appreciation and love for them that you would have otherwise, based off nature, focused on yourself. 

God knows best.

I sometimes get  frustrated wishing I could have all the knowledge and discernment I wished here and now. But I have all that I need. God only gives you as much as you need at the times that you need it, and we can thank Him for that! For with great knowledge comes great responsibility.. And I can only handle that a little at a time! 

My desire is to ask God only for what He desires for me to have, here and now, and for all of my life. For Him to guide me with that which He has already given me, and to use discernment with what He will bless me with in the future. As for today, I am going to seek each trial as something to grow from, and take it all step by step.