It floors me that something initially written by an apostle and shared around the first century still has a clarity and resonance to this day, without the need of reformatting it into our current language.

Perhaps some of you upon seeing the word “apostle” within will be urged to click away. I hope not. Though this was penned by one who would later be martyred for his beliefs, the progression of the thoughts behind these words truly leads one to what life can all about.

And become.

Ttoday, they could be fashioned into some business or athletic team mantra. Perhaps a personal daily devotion, of the secular, or the non variety. The construction of his thoughts just happened to sit just right within me earlier this morning for some reason. While the prompt then didn’t really appeal to me, sharing my thoughts on this did.

“…make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue,

virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control,

self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion,

devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love.”

Peter

Wow.

Faith can be directed towards and embraced in a higher power, as you understand it to be. And virtue is simply how you abide by the direction-of-travel-arrow within your personal moral compass. An inculcation of knowledge, knowing both yourself and the world in a deeper understanding works back towards the supplementation of faith and virtue while feeding the growth of self-control and its twin sibling, self discipline.

That aspect of this journey was not designed to be a sprint, but instead a marathon. Thus, endurance in every aspect – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual – needs to be enhanced and built over time in order to reinforce the journey. This act lends itself towards a genuine devotion towards this path.

Then, once this level of change begins to embrace and transform you, its presence within your being becomes increasingly evident. As such, you cannot help but share this evolution with both the world and those all around you. It will never affive asdirectives or directions, but moreso in the form of you as exemplar.

Through compelling honesty and open vulnerability, an affirming level of intention will generate trust and a burgeoning fellowship withn all your interactions. As it matures, true mutual affection will emerge towards others. Wanting what is best for them.

And when this occurs, ultimately, all that was before, will then become. love.

Wow.

Whether 64 AD or June 1, 2026, his words remain and ring true.

To this man.

For these reasons.