How to fall off a staircase:
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 5
Step 9
Step 13
Floor….!
[Trrrrdish!] 😁
I was reading Peter’s “Ladder of Virtue” as some Bibles and commentaries call it. ”…supplementing your faith with goodness, and to goodness add understanding, and to understanding add the strength of self-control…” etc, etc.
It is something men like. A step-by-step instruction manual (that we can ignore until we can’t figure out how to attach Endurance to Mercy and then we look at the instructions and realise we had to start with Faith…) The problem with the analogy is that we see it as linear. we need to do step one before we get to step two… but I fail at self-control… and fall off the ladder?
How will I ever get to Love and Mercy?
While reading this passage from different angles and in different translations to get a better understanding, I came across a commentary from Paul Reich where he likens it rather to the Soup of Virtues. Ingredients to add, not goals to accomplish
You have a bit of Faith… we need to keep adding in more but use what you have for now. Add in some Goodness. Some moral excellence – it really brings out the best in you! Mix in some understanding of the word, of the purpose of Christ, of your place in the world, but even it out with self-control… A soup that boils over, even in the excitement of the moment, still makes a mess!
Now you have to give it a bit of time to develop its full flavour so don’t rush. It may take a while, but if you persevere, the result will not just be good for you, but for all at the table!
Now call your brothers and neighbours, and share what you have. Don’t worry, you may have missed it, but God already filled your stores with more than enough supplies to share each and every day!
See… Soup! 😃
You miss an ingredient here or there… you still have soup and soup to share! It’s not going to be perfect, but every day you make it… it will be better!
“So devote yourselves to lavishly supplementing your Faith with goodness,
and to goodness add understanding,
and to understanding add the strength of self-control,
and to self-control add patient endurance,
and to patient endurance add godliness,
and to godliness add mercy toward your brothers and sisters,
and to mercy toward others add unending love.
Since these virtues are already planted deep within, and you possess them in abundant supply, they will keep you from being inactive or fruitless in your pursuit of knowing Jesus Christ more intimately…”
(2 Peter 1:5-8)
Today is Master Chef day!
