Leveling Up

Charlie Chim
II Peter 1:5-6 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;


For those that grew up in my generation, video games would be a common pastime for many of us—including myself. Before I go any further, I do want to say that I am not condoning video games nor am I proud of the amount of time I played as a child. This title/devotion is strictly for illustrative purposes meant to draw a spiritual application.

Back to our regularly scheduled program…
If you played video games for half the amount of time I did growing up, you would be familiar with the term “leveling up.” Simply put, “leveling up” in a game means to win points and get new skills, weapons, etc. for your character. It is a concept in games in which a character experiences some sort of progression that usually entails unlocking new abilities, skills, access to new items, access to a new area of the game, or as a benchmark of how far into the game a character is.

As a parent, this is similar to me congratulating each of my children for achieving a milestone in their life by saying “you’re a big boy/girl now” which can be compared to saying “you’ve leveled up.”

In many cases, it is required to level up in order to fulfill the objectives presented in the next level or mission of a given game (certain weapons/skills are required to advance).  

Now I’m excited to say that I have been free from the bondage of video games for over 25 years, haha. Yet, I remember this principle of “leveling up” clearly and find it helpful to apply in my life spiritually.


In our passage of Scripture, we see a very clear growth pattern that God wants us to achieve. It would appear that once an admiral attribute is achieved (faith or virtue or knowledge, etc), God is seemingly compelling us to add more. In other words, don’t be content with where you are at or what you have accomplished the focus should be to always “grow” or “level up”.

Faith is great to have, but faith and virtue are even better. Faith and virtue are great to have but faith, virtue, and knowledge is even better and so forth and so on.
Unfortunately, one of the biggest setbacks we place on ourselves is when we have a satisfaction in what we are being or not being for the Lord. We become comfortable in our routine. We become prideful in our past accomplishments or unwise comparisons among our peers. We become complacent.

Thank God for the accomplishments we have made in life. Thank God for the previous victories and past growth experiences. However, God wants us to continue growing, continue adding, and continue “leveling up.”

What blessings from God have we yet to unlock until we decide to level up? What new victories and milestones have we yet to experience? Perhaps many of us are waiting for a miracle from God to set our life in order, but on the flip side, God is just waiting for us to “level up.”

MEMORY VERSE OF THE DAY

II Peter 3:18 – But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

Charlie Chim

Bro. Chim and his wife joyfully serve the Lord together as he teaches the Foundations Adult Bible Class. They have five amazing children. Bro. Chim serves the Lord full-time as the principal of Pacific Baptist School.

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