Parable of the cleaner.

Printed on a can of boot-polish: "Do not use for other use."

Instructions from an iron: "Do not iron clothes while wearing them."

Here's a job waiting for someone: Work as a translator for companies in non-English speaking countries. Your main task would be to fix all the bad mistakes in the instruction books that have been translated from the native language into English. You'd get to live overseas, be self-employed, and laugh a lot!

My wife read one to me the other day, from a can of Shower cleaner: "For best results, use on a clean shower." People wondered why we were laughing in the supermarket aisles.

The shower cleaner can had a good point though, it is easier to clean something that is not dirty. Which made me think of what Peter wrote for us, found in 2 Peter chapter 1:

"For this 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, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love."

God has purified us through the sacrifice of his son, Jesus. When we accept his gift of salvation, we start off clean of all sin, and Peter reminds us to build on that foundation, "...add to your faith..".

Verse 8 gives us the reason for seeking to be active in developing our faith: "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."

Peter gives us a sharp lesson here, we may know Jesus as our Lord, but knowledge isn't growth. Knowledge without action is ineffective and unproductive.

So adding these qualities to our Christian faith is like keeping our shower clean, and doing it regularly makes it a much easier task.