Reflecting on the virtues, we must remember that they are how we care for our faith. We will never fully master these virtues in our life. There will always be a need for improvement, like a garden that needs constant tending. We will hold imperfectly to these virtues before the glory. However, this must not make us give up. As Peter says, we must make our calling and election sure (2 Peter 1:10).
Making your calling and election sure does not mean we add something that God has forgotten. Rather we pursue virtue to confirm to ourselves that our calling is reliable. The pursuit of virtue is thus not proof to God of election but proof to ourselves. We grow in our assurance of election when we grow in godliness. If we practice these virtues and desire them more and more, then we will not fall (2 Peter 1:8–9), we will grow in confidence that Christ has called us and our faith will stay healthy and vibrant. However, if we neglect these virtues and starve our faith, then our faith will die and our actions will reveal that we had never truly been called by God or elected by him. Thus the absence of virtues does not cancel election but rather shows that election was never true for that person.
Therefore, we pursue Christian virtue not because we believe that our good works will save us, but because this is what God desires from us in response to his grace and goodness. We are encouraged to persevere in doing these things with the promise that Christ will welcome us into his eternal kingdom. As we seek to add to our faith, Christ is working in us to add to our faith. As we work on our godliness, Christ is helping us to say yes
to what is good and no
to what is wrong. As we strive, Christ strives in us. As we exercise love, it is Christ working in us. Our efforts in obedience are not a testimony to our goodness but to that of Christ who works in us—he who prepared good works for us to walk in them.1
5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,