Recently, to my surprise, the runner beans have been flowering a second time since planting them. Now tiny bean pods the size of young earthworms are emerging from the scarlet flowers.
It's rewarding to witness their development again; this time around, I am noticing more of the details. Flowers are forming, around which flies and bees hover to pollinate them, after which the petals wither and fall away as bean pods grow out of them like claws. These claws then swell with beans (seeds for new plants) until they are ready for plucking; harvesting them before they reach maturity enables the flowering to continue next time.
Like runner beans, Christian discipleship involves stages of development, as described by the Apostle Peter. First he writes that through God's power, we may escape the evil nature of this world -- the passions -- and participate in the divine nature; in other words, we may become Christlike. Then he describes how we become Christlike in more detail, urging his readers to make every effort to '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' (2 Pet. 1:5-7).
Overall, then, our development as Christians involves faith bearing the fruit of love. Putting our faith in Christ -- that is, committing ourselves to Jesus as our Lord and our God -- is only the beginning of the journey. The next step involves diligently adding more elements to our faith so that we may mature. This effort is not an attempt to earn our salvation apart from God's grace; rather, everything we need to accomplish this comes from God's divine power, with which we participate (vv. 3-4).
Here I offer my reflections on each stage of development in discipleship.
- 'Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue' -- Virtue sets the tone for our faith, directing it to produce something life-giving, wholesome, beautiful; in a word, good. Goodness is one way the word 'virtue' can be understood, the same goodness with which God looked upon his creation in the beginning and was satisfied by what he had made.
Another way to understand 'virtue' is as moral excellence. We are called to strive for excellence in our relationships with God and others, and in maintaining our own integrity. This means becoming pure in heart, single-minded for God's kingdom and righteousness. - 'and to virtue, knowledge' -- Knowledge helps us discern between good and evil and thus supplements our virtue. Becoming virtuous is not guided merely by our feelings or emotions; it requires knowledge of the truth about God, the world, others and ourselves.
This knowledge is not merely book knowledge (although that can help), but especially applied personal and spiritual knowledge. For example, yesterday was Miriam and my wedding anniversary. I have been reflecting recently on how much better I know her now than I did four years ago when we first married, and this knowledge comes from the experience of my relationship with her; it could not have come only from reading facts about her. In order to learn about her in this way, my active participation and observation are required, and I will always have more to learn about her. Further, learning more about her and my relationship with her has taught me more about myself as well. - 'and to knowledge, self-control' -- As we come to know God and ourselves more truthfully, we recognise especially our own passions and sinful habits. This teaches us when to pull away, limit ourselves and keep from stepping over the line ('trespassing') into sin. Christlikeness is not only moving towards someone, Christ, but also moving away from something, our sinful nature. Self-control means mastering ourselves so that we may not sin and so that Christ's character may form in us.
For an example of the relationship between knowledge and self-control, I have a skin condition that flares up when I eat certain foods. By carefully monitoring what I eat and how it affects my skin (knowledge), I can know what foods to limit myself from eating too much of or to avoid eating altogether (self-control). Perhaps our soul is similarly impacted by the passions, and by paying attention to our internal reactions, we can learn how to control our desires to avoid damaging ourselves and others. - 'and to self-control, perseverance' -- It's easy to overcome temptation once in our life, or at least far easier than to consistently do so. This relates to my previous dietary example; it's one thing to avoid eating a piece of chocolate cake once, but to commit to doing so for the rest of my life requires greater strength. Thus we need perseverance to maintain our discipleship for the long-haul.
We recently climbed a mountain (Bow Fell, in case you're wondering, among the Cumbrian Mountains) and as we started off, I realised that I would enjoy the ascent much better by focussing on taking small but steady steps. That way, too, I would not tire myself out in my rush to climb the mountain.
Thus, perseverance requires a commitment to see things through and wisdom to pace oneself, taking on only as much as we know we can handle until we know we can take on more. Again this connects between knowledge, self-control and perseverance: without knowledge of our abilities and limitations, and without the self-control to discipline ourselves, we cannot achieve the sustainable pace required for perseverance. - 'and to perseverance, godliness' -- Godliness begins with our devoted relationship to God. As we persevere in our transformation, we don't become stoic and cold-hearted; we become holy, glowing with the love of God.
When I consider godly people I've met, I am struck by the warmth of their love, even upon meeting them for the first time, which must come from a life hidden in God.
This, I imagine, is what inspired the woman with a sinful reputation to wash Jesus' feet with her tears. Without a word, she knew that Jesus loved her and this moved her to pour out her own love to him in thanksgiving. In this act of love, she found healing (see Luke 7:36-50). - 'and to godliness, brotherly kindness' -- Brotherly kindness develops from godliness, which itself develops from the previous stages. Thus, we have seen explicitly the link between faith (the first stage) and love for others (here in the last stages). Although this link is spoken about throughout the scriptures, here we learn that there are several stages in-between (virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance and godliness). This suggests that genuine compassion for others doesn't develop overnight; we can't expect compassion to emerge simply by forcing a smile or making a one-off donation to charity. Rather, such compassion comes through the slow formation of our character, involving our effort in partnership with God's power to help us.
- 'and to brotherly kindness, love.' -- Love is the crown of our discipleship. This love is a union between our love for God, our love for others and God's love for us. This love is not sentimental, fickle, wavering or romantic; rather, it is faithful, virtuous, insightful, self-controlled, persevering, godly and compassionate.
This is the nature of God's love for us in Christ, shown by his steadfast concern for the human race and the world. As we grow towards embodying this love, we become who God intends us to be. God is love and we cannot know God without love.
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