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“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 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.”

2 Peter 1:5-8, ESV

Reflection

Listening to that scripture, you may wonder: Why is Day 2 titled “Strengthen Your Understanding”? Our key passage says knowledge, not understanding.

Well, the knowledge that Peter is talking about here comes from what we discussed in Step 1—adding virtue, or moral excellence, to our faith, which must be lived. James 2:26 says it this way: “Faith without works is dead.”

The only way to confirm our faith is to live it. That’s where Step 1 happens. And when we live by faith, we learn things about ourselves and God that we didn’t know before. That’s where Step 2 comes in.

Life is a great teacher if we choose to pay attention. That’s what Step 2 is all about: learning from the life we decided to live in Step 1 and applying that new knowledge. The question is, will we apply what God is trying to teach us through our life experiences?

So many times in life, we ignore what God is trying to teach us through our situations. We keep chasing that same type of boyfriend or girlfriend, expecting the relationship to be different than the last. We keep going after the same type of jobs, knowing they don’t fulfill us, and then wonder why we always hate working or can never stay anywhere too long. We keep doing things we know don’t align with God’s plan for us, and then we get upset when things aren’t turning out how we hoped.

You see, if we want to build a resilient faith, we have to wake up daily and commit to Step 1—living to our fullest potential for God. Then, we have to learn from the experiences God gives us and apply that learning going forward. It’s not complicated living, but it is intentional living, and that takes work.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we come. Lord, it’s once more again that You’ve seen fit to give us this opportunity to connect with You, God, in Your Word and through this devotional. God, we are trying to learn how to build that resilient faith, Lord—the one that, Father, doesn’t allow circumstances to overtake us, but rather pushes through, God, perseveres, and endures until the situation has changed in the way that You desire.

To do that, God, we understand, Lord, that we not only have to add virtue, but we also have to have understanding. Help us receive that today. Help us to learn from our circumstances. Help us to grow in our knowledge of You through things that You’re teaching us with our circumstances. God, we ask these blessings and pray this prayer in Your loving Son Jesus’ name. Amen.

Application Question

What lesson is God trying to teach you through your current circumstances?