You Will Never Fall

These are words we all wish to believe. There must be a way to guarantee we never fall to temptation and sin. All my life I’ve heard that I shouldn’t expect to be perfect because only God is perfect. So, how can Saint Peter promise we will never fall?

SIMON PETER, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours in the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promise, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature. 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 these things are yours and abound, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be the more zealous to confirm your call and election, for if you do this you will never fall.

2^nd Peter 1.1-10

The problem in reading only one verse is that we lose the context, or more importantly, the explanation of what is said. If we focus only on the last verse of today’s passage, we might think that if we confirm our call and election, we are all set.

That is the problem with many modern-day Christians. The idea of once saved always saved is defended by the final verse of today’s passage. The only problem is life experience. I have yet to meet a single person, no matter how holy, that has never fallen. Either Saint Peter is lying to us, or there must be more to the story.

We must take into consideration everything Saint Peter is saying today to understand why we fall. “Make every effort to supplement your faith.” There is the whole ‘faith and works’ conversation again. “For whoever lacks these things is blind and shortsighted.”

When we lack good works that supplement our faith, we become blind to temptation. When we are blind to danger, we fall. Virtue, knowledge, self-control, godliness, goodness, and love; these are the works that keep us from being ineffective.

If you want to never fall, then you must supplement your faith with these works in your life. If you have already fallen, don’t panic. You awoke this morning with another chance to remain standing. Every day is a new chance.

If you have fallen or if you are afraid of falling, make an appointment with your spiritual father for Holy Confession and get a fresh start. Remember that Jesus Christ has granted us all things that pertain to life. That always includes a ‘way back’ to Him and His Church.