Everything

November 26

Daniel 11-12

Psalm 132:1-10

Proverbs 28:12

2 Peter 1

Everything

“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His 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, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”  2 Peter 1:3-4 NIV

Everything we need.  Everything.  In the Greek that word means everything.  Not some things.  Not most things.  We have everything we need to live a godly life.  We are not lacking or deficient.  We are equipped.  We can do it!  This is not some pep talk Peter is giving us to tell us that we can do whatever we set our minds to, and we can accomplish anything we want.  Be all you can be!  Go for it!  He isn’t a coach trying to hype us up for the big game.  This is much more important than that.  Peter is trying to get across the point that we can get through this life, with all its difficulties and temptations, because we are equipped.  Jesus Himself has bestowed on us everything we need to live a godly life.  We are not too weak to say no to those sinful desires.  We are not destined to follow our same old patterns and bad habits.  Things don’t have to be the same as they have always been.  We can be different.  We are different.  This doesn’t happen because we try harder or because of our own power and ability.  Goodness, if that was the case, we would be destined to repeat the same patterns of sinfulness for the rest of our lives.  We can’t make ourselves be good and godly.  He knows that.  So, He had a better plan.  He would come and live in us to help us, strengthen us, empower us, and equip us. 

We are without excuse.  We don’t get to keep rationalizing our sin and blaming it on our past or someone else or “I just can’t help it.”  Those are lies from Satan.  We have access to the power of God in our lives.  We need to start using it.  We have escaped the corruption of the world caused by evil desires so why are we still letting them rule over us?   The only power they have in our lives is the power we allow them to have.  Satan wants us to believe that we can’t resist temptation.  He wants us to think that we are weak.  He wants us to think that it is arrogant to believe we can live godly lives.  Are we going to listen to him?  He wants us to fail.  His greatest desire is for us to give in and experience public humiliation.  Are we going to believe the father of lies who is cheering against us or are we going to start believing our Heavenly Father who loves us and is always seeking what is best for us?  Which voice are you listening to?   Are you going to keep believing that you can’t overcome that weakness, that you can’t change, or will you choose to believe that you have everything you need to live a godly life and start pursuing that?