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. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. -2Peter 1:3-8
I have underlined the parts that stood out to me on the day I first read them. Next I will break it down, not for your benefit, but for mine. For I truly believe the Holy Spirit spoke to me that day and gave to me the key elements for "everything we need for life". I have been on the path to return joy to my life. Somewhere in the hussle and bussle I misplaced it. I questioned why we were here, why we have to go through so many troubles, why we go through pain and hard times. I have always believed that we are put here to serve a purpose, but exactly what that purpose is and how we are to go about finding it and fulfilling it had escaped me. So here we go.
First and foremost you must have faith. Faith that God does exist, that he sacrificed his one and only son so that we might have a relationship with him. Without Jesus we could never be good enough to be with God. The Jewish people have proven that, time and time again. They are his chosen people, the ones that could, if they followed the law exactly, have a wonderful love relationship with him. He has done great things for them, proven that he exists and loves them, and yet, they have fallen short of his holiness. Hebrews 11:1 describes faith as this, "... faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." The instructions put to words by Peter rely on the fact that you have faith above all else.
Once your faith has been "nailed down" so to speak, then you should build upon it goodness. Don't we all strive to be "good" so that we may be loved. Many christians I know believe wholeheartedly that after you are saved, all you have to do is be good. Their belief in this simple version limits their whole life to the fact that, after goodness what is there? Their theory on life is we are saved, then we're instructed to be good until we go to heaven. There is so much more to life than that, there is so much more to live for. Life is not simply a crap shoot, and then things (good or bad) just happen! He loves us, he created us for his good purpose. To sit idly by and watch life pass, good, bad, whatever is a huge waste of what could be an amazing life! However, it is an important trait. Right up there ranked number two.
After we agree on goodness, we must look at knowledge. What kind of knowledge, you might ask. I theorize that knowledge in the Lord Almighty is the answer. He is The Way after all. Some argue that it is not our place to have His knowledge. I on the other hand think it's hardwired into some of us. Perfection, completely unrealistic here on earth, but practice makes perfect. I think our time on earth is our practice. I decided to ask around a little about knowledge of God. After just a few minutes of research and some picking of brains in my chatroom of friends, I think this could in fact bring up so much debate that I will defer to Peter, who, put the answer right there for us. No way to overthink it if the answers right there. Simply stated, His power gives me everything through my knowledge of him. It's right there, it's a promise. You see, God is a creator, that's what he does. He didn't simply create the universe, world, everything in it and then call it quits. John 5:17 - But Jesus answered them, "My Father is working still, and I am working." Back to this "step"; knowledge of him... I think, knowledge of him is something we need to develop. It's a close and loving relationship to him. Not as a child desires knowledge of their parent, but as a spouse desires knowledge of their soulmate. We simply cannot and do not know everything about our other half, everyday we learn new things about them. We develop, we change, we adapt, and we thirst for knowledge. I concede that I do not know everything about God, my husband, my children, my parents. The only ones that I will ever get close to having full knowledge of is my husband (because I have a lifetime to get to know him, and my God(because I have a lifetime and more to get to know him.) The difference is my husband grows and changes daily. My God is unchanging, but infinite. Maybe this is the reason the bible references the bridegroom, because our love is neverending and unquenchable for our soulmate and it is easier to equate a passionate desire for God this way. Don't get me wrong, I love my children, my friends, my family, but my husband is a constant in my life for as long as we both shall live.
And to this knowledge I will practice self-control, and cut this post short so that I may achieve some domestic goals. Until next time.
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