For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with Godliness, and Godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love...for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. (ESV) II Peter 1:5-7, 10b
Nosh: Acquiring skills for any endeavor in life entails considerable practice and repetition. When it comes to our spiritual lives, the same is true. In fact, Peter says that practicing Godly qualities not only leads to spiritual maturity but also protects us from falling back into sin and the personal destruction it would reintroduce in our lives.