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Seven Steps: Step One: Diligent Faith Needs Virtue Peter wrote, “Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue.” Other translations and commentaries translate the word virtue as “goodness” or “moral excellence.” But the context shows that we need to see this goodness in a basic form. It has to be a form of goodness that precedes the following steps—knowledge, self-control and others—which Peter went on to add. Peter reached into his pagan culture for a general, nontechnical, basic word for “goodness” and grabbed hold of the word virtue. Here in verse 5 it seems to take the form of good intentions. This meaning fits with the rest of Scripture, which shows us that true faith will result in a desire to do the will of God, to please Him, and to do what is right. And isn’t that where moral excellence and real goodness begin? You have to want to do something before you can do it. This is the kind of “virtue” or inclination toward goodness that every parent, teacher, and employer looks for. They look for a child, a student, an employee who wants to do the right thing. Without that willingness of heart, there can be no further instruction, no deepening of relationship, no maturing of trust. Unless a person has a genuine desire to do the right thing, all progress will come to a stop. Sounds very basic, doesn’t it? But that’s the point Peter wanted us to remember. The first step of diligent faith is to want to move in the direction of goodness. And if that’s the case, how are you doing with this most basic issue? Are you pursuing virtue with a passion? Are you pressing for good intentions with all due diligence? Are you taking seriously the words of our Lord: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Mt. 5:6). How about it? Do you want to do what is right? •Do you want to please God?Without good intentions like these, you will never get anywhere in the Christian life. At the same time, however, we know how incomplete good intentions are by themselves. If this is all we have, then all we have is a soft start. That’s why Peter went on to give us the next step.
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