Outdoor Service

Today's passage says that just as life grows in nature, our faith too must mature more and more in God. The apostle Peter lays out a journey of becoming like Christ by adding to faith, one after another, moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. Even though we are not perfect from the start, God builds us up again through our failures and makes us grow.

Growth in faith is not a special ability or a miracle, but concrete attitudes toward life that show at home and at work. In particular, the first thing to build on faith is not mere good manners but ‘moral excellence’, a good way of living before God. As the vessel that holds faith, it must show itself in honesty and consideration in small everyday moments, and it is a process of encouraging and holding one another up and growing together in the community.

Peter completes the fruit of faith with love, stressing that Jesus' heart for embracing people matters more than great knowledge or ability. God is shaping us not into people the world thinks impressive, but into people who reveal his good character. Through this time today, can we entrust ourselves to him so that the fruit of love grows in our serving of one another and our fellowship?