Love is the Capstone of Faith

Scripture:
“3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
2 Peter 1:3-11
Observation:
It is through the God’s divine power that we are able to pursue life and godliness. It is through the knowledge of God that we that we receive the promise of becoming partakers of the divine. It is through this power that we escape the corruption that is in the world stemming from sin. We are able to escape the corruption of the world in order to be partakers of the divine. Faith in this promise, faith in the divine, faith is thus the place where we start are journey as partakers of the divine. But faith alone is not enough, as James points out when he says, “Faith without works is dead.” Peter seems to be building on this concept, by telling believers, those who have faith, to supplement their faith with virtue, which is the Greek word ajreth, meaning moral excellence. What we believe should lead us to a place where our morals change. But we are to supplement our newfound moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control. Without supplementing our knowledge with self-control we will start to become arrogant in what we know. We will begin to wield what we know like an unsheathed sword in a crowded room, and the result is collateral damage because we could not control what we know.
Sadly this is something that a lot of people in the Church today are struggling with, including myself. We become so gung-ho about what we know, that we start to attack what others know because it is not what we know and what we know has to be right. I am sick of seeing people overcome by pride in what they claim to know, because this premature discharge of knowledge really shows their lack of true understanding.
We can walk through the entire list of supplements, but the capstone to this list is love. We must supplement our faith with love ultimately. Jesus said, “by your love for one another they will know you are my disciples”, not by your faith.
The growing trend of “Heresy Hunters” and arrogant religious know-it-alls is the result of people having faith but not capping it off with love. They start living at a higher moral standard, and that leads them to self-righteousness, they start learning orthodoxy without proper praxis and that leads them to be arrogant. So on and so on, without love we cannot truly live out nor understand our faith, nor can we truly be partakers of the divine, because we will be ineffective, unfruitful, and forgetful. But if we are sure to walk through the entire list of supplements capping them off with love we will be partakers of the divine, sojourning in this world for the kingdom of God.
Application:
I need to make sure that I always walk my faith out in love. Anything less will render me impotent as an ambassador of the kingdom of God.
Prayer:
Lord, cause me to always walk my faith out in love. Help me to always be kingdom minded in my pursuits. And thank you for allowing me to be a partaker of the divine. Amen…