"But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, 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; NKJV).
For the Christian, faith is the foundation. Without faith, we cannot please God (Heb. 11:6). Faith comes by hearing God's Word (Rom. 10:17). Then after someone obeyed the full plan of salvation and the Lord added him or her to the church (Acts 2:47), it is important for that individual to grow (Heb. 5:12-14; 2 Pet. 1:5-7).
The first of what is commonly referred to as the Christian Graces, is virtue. We are to add to our faith, virtue. Virtue is defined as moral excellence or goodness. It means that Christians are to live according to a higher standard and show the world the virtues of God. We must think and act differently than the world (Rom. 12:1-2). Paul tells us to set our mind on things above in Colossians 3:1-2. We must make up our mind to be like Joseph who fled from the wife of Potiphar (Gen. 39), or like Daniel who prayed to God despite the decree of the king (Dan. 6:10), or like Paul and declare the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:26-27).
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