“His divine power has granted us all things that pertain to life and goodness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his glory and excellence… For this 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.” 2 Peter 1:3-7
While auto-pilot is great if you fly airplanes, its absolutely deadly for a Christian. We are not called to set our faith on auto-pilot and just let it go. Every phase of our faith-life is demanding. The mountains of worldliness loom large before us. The valleys of darkness threaten to swallow us. The moral compass goes haywire and leads us away from our destination - eternal life with God.
Many people are in danger of forfeiting their souls because their faith is on auto-pilot. They took their eye of God. The world is leading them into the mountains and chasms of ruin, yet they still believe everything is fine. To be frank, their faith ran out ago; they are simply running on fumes.
We cannot obtain faith or salvation by our works or by virtue of being worthy or good. They are gifts from the Holy Spirit and the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross; however, faith is put in our hands to tend like a garden and thus produce fruits that reflect godliness. We are called to “supplement” our faith - to strengthen it - by exercising virtue, knowledge, self-control, etc. All these take effort on our part. Do not put yourself on auto-pilot. Do not allow Satan to switch you on auto-pilot. Be active. Stay alert. Stay alive.
Prayer: “Lord God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, preserve me from laziness. Motivate me to tend the gift that you have given me so that my faith in you would remain strong, and my faith-life might be vibrant and fulfilling until the coming of Christ, in whose name I pray. Amen.