July 26, 2019 EVERYTHING PERTAINING TO LIFE
2 Peter 1:3-4, 10-11 “seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 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. Therefore brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.”
Peter Parris once made the statement that “Our salvation is greater than we think.” Some think of our salvation as our ticket to heaven-and that it is-but it’s so much more; we can spend our lifetime learning more about this ‘so great salvation.’ Hebrews 2:3. We may at times find life overwhelming and we may be uncertain of the choices we must make, but in those times, we must remember that God has indeed “granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness” which becomes a reality to us through the “true knowledge of Him.” This ‘true knowledge’ is knowing God according to who He says He is in the scriptures instead of defining Him according to our own understanding and preferences. It is a huge mistake to think that we can gain a true knowledge of God apart from reading and studying His written word. The written word of God is not just good advice-His word is super-natural and it goes beyond mere intellect. We cannot separate the Holy Spirit from the word of God because it takes the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth of God’s word and how it applies to our day-to-day life circumstances. In the scriptures, we find ‘magnificence’ promises. One of the promises is that we can ‘partake’ of the divine nature of God and thereby escape the corruption that is in the world-what a promise! 1 John 4:17 tells us that “as He is, so also are we in this world.” His word is life; His word guides us; corrects us: encourages us; trains us for life; reveals truth to us; and gives us confidence and hope. Because His word is super-natural, it takes us out of living according to our very limited human understanding and reasoning. There is a warning in the above scriptures that we need to hear; in order for us to experience the power of God’s word, we ‘must practice these things.’ Reading God’s word and not obeying-not practicing-ensures that we will not experience the promises that are for those who hear and obey. Let us take to heart and be diligent to make certain of His calling and choosing us by practicing what God has said in His word; by doing so, we will not stumble. God has done everything necessary in order for us to experience the abundant life that is found only in Him.
James 1:25 “But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it-not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it-they will be blessed in what they do.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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