And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(2Pe 1:5-8)
Life and Godliness. Do you have life? Do you have an abundant life in Christ? Do you have Godliness? What is Godliness, have you ever considered what that means? The Greek word for godliness was used by ancient pagans to describe those who kept in close contact with their gods. When Peter uses this word here he is talking about the need for Christians to be constantly aware of God’s manifest presence.
Now Godliness is the abiding knowledge of God’s presence in your life, the constant awareness of God in you and before you and behind you. It is different from experiencing God’s presence for a moment in time, or moments, it is to literally walk with the full awareness of God daily. If you are not walking virtuously and coming into the presence of God that produces self-control and cheerful endurance, then you cannot expect to walk in Godliness.
It is Godliness that leads to true brotherly kindness, for how can we claim to love God if we cannot love our brothers and sisters in Christ? And of course at the end of it all is love, which over-arches everything that we do, without this we have nothing. Everything ends, just as everything began, with love.