There are times when the plans my husband and I make look like a jackknifed tractor trailer in the median strip. We have all the parts necessary for forward motion but they just don’t run well. We knew we needed a second vehicle even before we got married. We both wanted a truck but I stalled looking for one. I didn’t want a monthly payment.
Eric had found a ‘93 Ford pickup on Marketplace for a price I could handle. My first question: what’s wrong with it? Cosmetics only. The big stuff is fine. The seller is just downsizing his fleet from closing a business. Hmmmm… Eric set up a time to go look. It was as promised: a well used but definitely loved F-150. Test drive. It checked all our boxes. Paperwork and money were exchanged and we started the 30 minute drive home, Eric in Old Blue, me in Baby.
Eric: Ready, honey?
Me: I’ll follow you.
A few miles outside of town he pulled over. The engine was cutting out but as it had sat a few months through Kansas dust storms (yeah, plural) the thought was a dirty fuel filter. We moved forward. A few miles later he pulled over. It should be noted there is no shoulder for the road. Just open range.
Me: Filter issue? Something more?
Eric: Out of gas.
Oh. Texts.
Me to Pastor: not gonna make rehearsal.
Eric to Mom: not gonna make supper.
We pushed the truck off the road the whole way and got in my car. The gas station in the town we just left didn’t have fuel cans. Dollar General: cans. Station: petrol. Car: drive. Truck: pour. Ignition!
Eric: Ready, honey?
Me: I’ll follow you.
There is a tiny town in between home (lovingly called S40) and truck town. Eric pulled the truck over again on to the Main Street. More trouble shooting. Both in my car. Co-op. Petrol cans. Back to truck. Truck to co-op. Full tanks now. It should be noted it was 100°F, full sun, and we only had two water bottles between us. We had been out in the heat and dust for over two hours and I was getting nervous.
The truck started and held.
Eric: Ready, honey?
Me: I’ll follow you.
Popping the last ridge into our hometown was a glorious sight. Our adventure took twice as long as anticipated. We cooled off and hydrated. Mission accomplished.
The next morning we went to church. We love our church and our church family. It’s the next town over where his parents live and about a thirty minute drive. We stopped at her house for his cat and his Harley. With 2Socks loaded and bike running we headed south.
Me: Ready, honey?
Eric: I’ll follow you.
Wrong choice. Halfway home I realized Eric was no longer behind me. I doubled back. A mile North he had pulled over as best he could on a road with no shoulder.
Me: Are you ok?
Eric: Out of gas.
Bike safely stashed in a safe place. Both in my car with the very patient 2Socks. North. Petrol. South. Bike. Pour. Ignition! Rev rev rev…
Eric: Ready, honey?
Me: I’ll follow you.
2Socks: zzzzzzzzz
In what seemed to be the theme of our weekend we made it home safely with all vehicles intact in double the planned time. 2Socks has declared herself Queen of the Basement. Froggy is in love.
To this moment it still baffles me how two car enthusiasts completely missed filling tanks on not one but two vehicles. Back to back. And that’s even with knowing the 30+ mile distance to travel both days. We went past the petrol stations and pulled out into open road. I have questioned my decision making ability throughly. Eric is thrilled with the truck. “It’s perfect.”
Because Blue sat for so long she needed more than just petrol. There’s different bottles of additives to clean out the fuel lines, transmission, etc. A lot of times I wish vehicles were just two fluids: oil and petrol. It would uncomplicate a car for me. But there’s a lot of moving parts that need different kinds of care. Sometimes I wish my faith was that way with only two parts: belief and love. I wish my conversations with God were always so simple.
God: Ready?
Me: I’ll follow you.
But there are areas of my life where my trust is shaky. Eric and I have been speaking together a lot lately about trust and obedience. There can be obedience without love. It’s called compliance. But you can only love someone as much as you trust them. The question in my mind: Can there be agape love without faith? The answer is in 2 Peter 1:5-8
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 these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Just as the fuel in the truck needed extra supplies to optimally run, so faith also needs extra supplies. A brief study of the original language reveals the word “effort” also means “diligence”. “Supplement” can also mean “minister to”. We should be diligent to minister to our faith. Our beliefs. We live in a world that is hypervigilant to break down Godly values. Supplementing our faith can go two ways. We can stay true to Biblical precepts and maintain real moral excellence. Or we can blur the line between black and white to grey and take on a worldly definition of virtue. A version that stands for any cause as long as it lines up with your own sense of justice. A version that says there is morality without God. Hell will be full of moral people. Virtue without a solid faith in God is nothing more than a hollow shell. It is ignorant of of the reason it was created.
Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them, for the customs of the people are vanity.
God’s warning by the prophet Jeremiah still rings out. If a believer truly seeks virtue they must seek knowledge. We can not remain scripture stagnant with only knowing a verse or two. The Bible should be read, understood, and applied in all ways daily. Jesus said in Matthew 11:29, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am gentle and lowly at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Psalm 119:7 sings, “I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules.” Being connected to Jesus is to walk beside him. Just as a yoked team of oxen cannot successfully operate individually, we can not move in the spirit of God successfully without a firm connection.
The world will teach that to be gentle is to be easily taken advantage of. To be lowly at heart is to be emotionally frail. That’s not Jesus. Meekness ain’t weakness. It is power in control. Controlling the wild desires and ambitions of the soul brings rest. It can only happen with God. Peter knew this. Verse six asks us to supplement faith with self control. Once someone knows the expectation of Godly excellence (virtue) then they are expected by God to control the things of the flesh. That control, when surrendered to God leads to steadfastness.
Other translations of the word hypomone are ‘consistency’ and “endurance”. My favorite though is ‘patient continuance”. Growing in faith requires patience. When the Bible says God will provide but you have more month than money: patience. When Jesus gives the promise of healing but the doctor says get your affairs in order: patience. When the Spirit moves for the demon to be cast out but the attacks still keep coming: patience. We know things. We need to learn them.
The reward for steadfast, patient, continuing faith is godliness. Not the form offered by the serpent in the Garden of Eden, but a reverential piety. A worship mindset. A respect of God will lead to brotherly affection- philadelphia in the Greek. We begin to want to see God’s children as God sees them through the eyes of compassion and forgiveness. We stand strong in our faith in God even when other people hurt us. When family fails us. When the local church doesn’t come through for us. When the job shuts us down. Our faith in God is based on who God truly is not by how we translate the actions of others. This is agape love.
It is a deep sacrificial love that sits above everything else. It continues regardless of circumstances. Agape is the covenant love of God for us as well as our reciprocal love for God. It needs to extend to our fellow man. Back to the original question:
Can there be agape love without faith?
Resoundingly no.
Can there be faith that does not have agape?
Unfortunately yes.
The admonition of Peter to supplement our faith show the clear building blocks that lead to having true agape love. Like the jackknifed tractor trailer in the median strip, all the components are available for forward motion and growth. But without proper order the delivery of our faith to the heart of agape love goes nowhere. We are out of gas.
It is time for a proper fueling.
Virtue. stop watching screens with language, nudity, and violence.
Knowledge. Read the Bible to understand God’s word not just scroll Facebook.
Self control. Is the conversation at the church potluck really a prayer request or a reason to gossip guilt free?
Steadfastness. Don’t give in to anger at a job God provided even when the coworkers don’t show respect.
Godliness. Pray over food in public as it’s also done in private.
Brotherly affection. Need a ride? Need $20? Need a hug? What small need can be met to make a big difference?
Agape. It must be our goal.
The Christian needs to find a way to make faith more than just the petrol of love and the oil of belief. It also takes the supplemental bottles as Peter outlined. The engines are running.
God: Ready?
Us:
Musings In The MidWest 