2 Peter 1:1 – This letter is from Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ. I am writing to you who share the same precious faith we have. This faith was given to you because of the justice and fairness of Jesus Christ, our God and Savior.
2 May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord. 3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. 8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins. (NLT)
It’s a new year and many people have made resolutions to better themselves. Have you ever wondered how much money is spent on books, seminars and workshops that are designed to help people become better parents, or a better spouse? Many men and women truly desire to be better, and in this passage we are told that God has already given us everything we need to be a better person. In fact, “God has given us everything we need for living a godly life” (verse 3). I am not saying that all the books and seminars and workshops designed to help us become better in our relationships are wrong (I’ve spent my fair share of money on them), but I am saying that if they are not based upon biblical principles, then they probably won’t produce much change.
We are told that all that we need for living a godly life comes from God’s divine power. How do we tap into this divine power? Is there a secret formula? The answer is also there in verse three: “We have received all of this by coming to know him.” God does supply us with all we need to live a godly life, but we must nurture our relationship with God in order to receive what we need. Nurturing a relationship takes time and effort. We live in a time when many people do not bother putting forth the effort to foster and maintain good relationships. Good marriages do not happen by accident, they take work. Those who truly seek to live a Christ like life are called disciples for a reason – it takes discipline.
Today let us resolve to discipline ourselves. Let us nurture our relationship with God through Jesus Christ so that we can receive all that we need today for living a godly life.
Posted by Ramón Torres
I always love a good list and the one from 2 Peter is one of my favorites in the Bible. I love that it explains clearly that we must grow through one step into the next. I love that there isn’t an expectation that we will magically have all the fruit of the spirit flooded into us all at once. No one would expect a young student to understand division until she had learned addition, subtraction and multiplication, there is an order to learning them so that you are ready for the next step. In a similar fashion if we don’t take time to learn self-control and goodness how will we ever understand mutual affection or how to love all of God’s children?
Amen, and thank you Aimee!