Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.

There are many ways to characterize and summarize the way of life disciples of Jesus Christ are called to follow.

At one point, Jesus himself characterized the new life in terms of fruit. He said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide,” (John 15:16). This passage emphasizes that the Christian life is about bearing of fruit, fruit that will last.

In one of his letters, the Apostle Paul summarized Christianity as a life of faith. He said, “The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me,” (Galatians 2:20). From this angle, the emphasis is on the walk of faith.

In our verse for today, the Apostle Peter gives us another way to characterize the Christian way of life. It is a life that should confirm our election and call by God. The life we live as disciples, in other words, should confirm the fact that we have been truly transformed by the blood of the lamb.

How does Peter believe that we can confirm our election and call? He says that we need to practice certain qualities. What qualities are they? In the previous verses he lists them. He says, “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,” (2 Peter 1:5-7).

If we analyze Peter’s list, we see that most of the words describe a life of moral excellence. Take “virtue” for instance. A virtuous person is one who is righteous and good in every respect. “Steadfastness” indicates a person who is firm in his resolve to follow and obey the commands of God and Jesus Christ. And a person who exhibits “love” is a person who is obedient to the greatest commandment and to the second one that is like it.

Our life of faith in Jesus Christ, our fruit-bearing life, is a life that reveals we have been elected and called. Although those diligent about living it may stumble, they will never fall (Psalm 37:24).

By John Huisman, friend of Bible League International