It’s a responsibility to live a Christian life. It’s not an optional, feelings-based experience that we get to choose whenever we want to experience it, but something that is a wholehearted commitment. This thought was spurred on by a passage I read recently:
“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:5-8)
From the end of the passage you can see the purpose of adding these qualities is clear – to be effective and productive in our lives. Working on godly character traits is commanded by God, and that starts by making the choice to do so.
One time I heard an interview with Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist from Stanford. From his studies, he found human beings are made to let behaviors shape our thoughts, feelings, and perceptions – not the other way around. Most of us have difficulty doing this and try to change our thoughts or feelings first in order to influence behavior, but that is not what neuroscience shows us. What we do tells us what we think and feel, and the same goes for our faith in God. If we live by faith, we will believe it, but if we try to force our way into feeling something, it doesn’t mean we will get there.
What if we put godly behaviors first instead of getting caught up in our thoughts, feelings, and perceptions of what to do? The verses from 2 Peter give us a list to follow, but it’s up to us to live by it. We have a responsibility to live by faith, and to make every effort doing it.