His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. - 2 Peter 1:3-4
I love the way the New Living Translation of the Bible puts 2 Peter 3. It reads, “As we know Jesus better, His divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life.”
How do people become doctors, or lawyers, or accountants, or engineers, etc? We go to school and learn, then we enter into the workplace and are coached and then we literally practice daily and often get better because of increased knowledge and more practice. The same holds true for living life as a Christian in our fallen world.
Many have argued that living a “righteous life” in Christ is impossible because of our nature as human beings, but I want to propose that just as it is with any occupation or activity we engage in, godliness comes through an increased knowledge of Christ and daily practice. When the disciples met Jesus and began to follow Him, they lacked faith, knowledge, and so much more. However, the more they walked with Him, learned from Him, and practiced the new life that came with accepting Him, the more they grew in faith, godliness, and power.
Peter assures us in the verses above that the Lord has given us EVERYTHING we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us! Yes, living life could get very difficult sometimes, but no Christian should ever say, ‘No, I can not do that’ or, ‘I cannot live a godly life,’ because the Lord says you can. He has deposited the Holy Spirit in us to not only give us the desire to live a godly life, but to also help us live out the godly life. Paul reminds us in Romans 8:26 that “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”
God’s divine power gives us everything we need to live life in a way that is pleasing to Him. This divine power gives us everything we need to be godly parents, godly children, godly spouses, godly employees, godly friends, godly students, godly Christians, godly athletes, etc. We tap into this power through our knowledge of Him who called us.
So dear friends, I challenge you to begin to consider how much time and energy you invest into increasing your knowledge of Christ. A good professional invests a lot of time into continuing education and it behooves us as Christians to do the same.
I leave you with a quote by Alexander Maclaren, a Scottish Bible expositor. “We may have as much of God as we will. Christ puts the key of the treasure-chamber into our hand, and bids us take all that we want. If a man is admitted into the bullion vault of a bank and told to help himself, and comes out with one cent, whose fault is it that he is poor?”
Grace and peace be with you.
Click to go to the
Homepage
|
EVERYTHING WE NEED