Hello everyone!
I pray you had a relaxing, refreshing and renewing holiday season -- I sure did. Rest is definitely a good thing, as is getting out of the normal grind and routine. But I cannot tell you enough how excited I am about getting back in the Word with you in the mornings again! How I have missed it! My days truly are not the same without a few minutes with Him first thing. I can honestly say that now since starting this journey back in April.
I look forward to all that we learn as we read the Bible in 2012 -- I know without a doubt that God has things He wants to teach us in His Word. I can't wait! So let's dig in. We are starting the year in 2 Peter. We studied 1 Peter over the summer, but then I was just so excited to get into Matthew, that I didn't do 2 Peter at that time. So now, we're coming back to it!
Second Peter is a letter from Peter to The Church (which now includes us) and includes a whole bunch of great teaching for us. In case you are like I was, when you see the first three phrases in verses 1-2, notice that they "signed" their letters first, so you will see right off the bat, "Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,"
then who the letter is addressed to, "To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:" well, by that definition, that would include us, wouldn't it?
Now comes the salutation: "Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord." Wouldn't you just love someone to say that in their next hand written note to you? I think I might start signing my letters with that! I love that he is wishing us grace and peace in abundance, but he's sure to remind us where those come from: through the knowledge of God and Jesus. That, my friends, is the only place from where pure grace and peace come. Do you want some grace toward others and a peace in your heart in 2012? Well, you've come to the right place, because we are going to keep studying He who is the only source of both!
Okay, read this, and then we'll break it down. I just love this!!
3 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. 4 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.
I don't know what your goals are for the new year, but I know that my greatest desires is to come to know the Lord even more. As Josh and I were talking about areas that we want to be our "focus" for the new year, I came up with six (perhaps a lofty goal, but nevertheless, here they are):
1. Please God.
2. Serve Josh.
3. Love others.
4. Slow down.
5. Be healthy.
6. Write more.
I could go into all of these, but we aren't here to talk about me. But I show you this because, as I looked at this list, I wasn't sure if I could really do all these things -- they are all the most major areas of my life. How am I supposed to focus on all of these things?! Yet, I know that all of these, with the exception of specifically #6, God would have the same desires for me, too, according to His word.
That's where 2 Peter 3-4 comes in! Just as I wrote a list, there are so many stinkin' lists in Scripture about all the things we should and shouldn't do, that it becomes over-whelming when I think that I have to do all of them myself!
"His divine power..." Let us be sure that any power we are talking about comes from God. Let me take one of the things from my list...Love Josh...if I want to do this better, I cannot do it on my own even if I wanted to! I can give it a try for sure, but if I really want to love Josh in a godly way, it's going to have to come from God! This is the best news we have heard in a long time! I don't have to think that it is all on my shoulders because the power to do anything for Christ comes from Him! I just have to obey.
Not only does Jesus want to save us, but He also wants to change us. Sure, we may have our "ticket" into Heaven, but He wants to do so much more in and through our lives on this earth. He wants to make you more like Himself, and it really is possible...but only though Him.
"...has given us everything we need for life and godliness..." The word that sticks out to me is everything. He gives us everything we could possibly need in life -- all knowledge, all ideas, all answers to our questions -- that we could possibly need in order to live and to do it in a godly way! Looking at my list, I can be assured that I can have all that I need to do those things and to do them well -- not in my own power, but His.
Do you notice that the verb here is past tense -- "has given"?! It's already been given? What? Yes! As soon as we asked Jesus to be the Lord of our life, we were given the Holy Spirit, which is a one time gift. Once we have Him, we have ALL of Him. We can't get any more of the Holy Spirit, but we can certainly always "tap into Him more," for lack of a better phrase.
And godliness? What does that mean? According to my Bible, godliness is "a genuine reverence toward God that governs one's attitude toward every aspect of life." Godliness does not mean perfection! It has to do with my attitude -- a genuine reverence toward God that governs every part of my life. That is what we're striving for, isn't it? And it is already ours if we can use what He's already given us...here's where:
..."through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness." We become more godly through a greater understanding of Jesus, and the only way to really come to know and understand Jesus more is through scripture! The Bible is our major source for that! Let me say it the opposite way: if we are not using the Bible as our main guide for life, we will not become any more godly than we already are, and we will not become any more like Christ. Scripture is key! The study of Jesus is key!
Look what it says about Jesus: who called us by his own glory and goodness. It is Jesus Himself who has called you, called all of us, to come follow Him by His own glory (excellence in His attributes and essence) and How own goodness (excellence expressed in His deeds and actions). Because of who He is inwardly and outwardly, we can have everything we need spiritually, no other secret knowledge is necessary (helpful? possibly...but not necessary) -- no theology, no psychiatry, no self-help book, no rituals -- we have everything we need through Him. Just learn Jesus!
"Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises,..." Through these, his glory and his goodness, He has given us incredible and valuable promises so that we can live a life of godliness! In other words, out of His great love for you, He has given you the plan and the map for success in this world. Not necessarily success as the world would define it, but success in our ever-increasing godliness. Tomorrow, Paul will go into what these precious promises are, but for now, soak in the idea that Jesus loves you, and He didn't leave you alone to figure all of this out. He told us how we can be godly and gives us the power to be so!
"...so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires." There is a purpose in all of this. He told us what to do and how to live SO THAT in knowing those things we can be different! We do not have to experience life on this earth the way that so many people do -- we can experience more, the more that comes from having God, the Holy Spirit, living and active inside you and in your life. I know this to be true! Yesterday, at church mind you, I was having a really hard time focusing because I was becoming so bitter about how I had been hurt by someone. In that moment, I prayed that Jesus would give me peace about it, knowing I had spoken truthfully and gently, and the results and any revenge I may want to take were completely up to Him. As I prayed, the Lord calmed my heart -- in that moment! This is the power that we have as followers of Christ -- not by our own power, but by a power that comes from the Lord.
I love the verse in Ephesians 1 that talks about how the power that is in us as Christians, is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead! That same Holy Spirit lives in us! Jesus was dead and decaying in a tomb until the Holy Spirit breathed life back into His body and He came walking out of a tomb -- that's a LOT of power, dear ones! And that is the same power that lives in us. Oh, how I wish we could come to know this!
That is my prayer for you and for me in the year 2012...to repeat Paul's words:
"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms..." Ephesians 1:17-20
So what are your goals and/or your focus for this new year? I used to never make goals because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to attain them. But now I do, because I know that I am in a partnership with Christ. When I fall off the wagon, I get back on and keep relying on His power, not mine.
Whatever your goals or your focus may be for 2012, I sure hope they include getting to know Jesus more and learning how to live for Him and serve Him better! And whatever the other goals are, you have power to do them through Jesus Christ -- just keep asking Him for more of Him and less of you.
It's going to be a good year...
I look forward to walking through the Word with you more as we continue on this journey for more knowledge of Him!
No comments:
Post a Comment