God's Furniture Store

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” (2 Tim. 3:16-17)

God intends for our faith to be well furnished. We receive it from Him as a bare-boned but sturdy enough structure, and it’s up to us to add the spiritual furniture and décor, if you will, to present Him a “holy habitation of God through the Spirit” (Eph. 2:22). Or at least as holy as a redeemed sinner can be. Not perfect, simply always in the process of perfecting. And lest we find ourselves questioning about what these new furnishings will look like, the Apostle Peter gives us a handy checklist:

“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” (2 Pet. 1:5).

Whew! Quite a list, huh? Ah, but not to worry; all these items can be found in one place: God’s Furniture Store—The Bible. God has promised that everything we need with which to furnish our lives with the good works of grace that glorify Him, edify the saints, and give witness to our salvation, is found in the Book to which we often give more lip service than life service. I know this is a drum I beat often and loudly; but get used to it. I’m convinced, if I can do or say something to make you salivate for God’s Word, I will have done you more good than a thousand motivators or sympathizers.

Don’t settle for a faith sparsely furnished with a good work here and a good thought there. Virtue, but meager knowledge; knowledge but little temperance; temperance, but no patience; patience that lacks godliness; godliness that’s unkind to its brother; or brotherly kindness without charity for anyone else. No, God wants us to have it all, not just thoroughly furnished, but “throughly” furnished. Good, through and through. We’ll never be perfect as long as we live in these imperfect bodies, but that shouldn’t keep us from adding to our faith.

Have you been to God’s Furniture Store today? Say, how well furnished is your faith?