February 6, 2021 BECOMING PARTAKERS
2 Peter 1:4-8 “For by these He has granted to us His magnificence promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply all moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge; and in your knowledge, self-control and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
We seem to have a natural tendency to complicate things-and that tendency can rob us of experiencing the life that God has made available to every believer. The mind-set we should have as we read the scriptures is that we cannot earn God’s love and approval by keeping His commandments, but that He has made us new creations, and that our new nature desires to walk in His ways because we love Him. His commands are who we are in Him. This is liberating news for us; no longer do we have to ‘try to be a good Christian;’ now it is about discovering our new identity in Him and living according to our new identity-not our old identity. Because God has given us ‘magnificence promises,’ we can “become partakers of the divine nature.” Think about it-us, flesh and blood, who were born sinners, can take on a divine nature? Wow! That is exactly what God has in mind for us. We must stop defining ourselves merely as people who have been saved but still remain sinners. We must see ourselves as someone who has received Christ as Savior, who has been made new creations and the power of sin broken and we have become partakers of His divine nature. Now, it becomes our desire to walk in all the commands and instructions from God-because that is who we are. We can choose to live according to the flesh, but it is just that-our choice. We have the choice of yielding to our flesh-the old self-or to the Spirit. “This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Galatians 5:16. We have a part to play in our spiritual walk; the above passage of scriptures instructs us to be diligent in adding to our lives moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. Not only should we have these qualities, but they also should be increasing. The interesting thing is that as we add these things and as we obey the promptings of the Spirit, our knowledge of the Lord increases. God’s word is super-natural, but it also has a practical element; through the power of the Spirit, we can decide to live according to the words of God. God often says that if we do a certain thing, He will respond in a certain way. For example, He says that if we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us. Let us be pro-active in putting on the things of the Lord.
Romans 13:14 “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lust.”
Ephesians 4:22-24 “that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lust of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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