Are you low on energy to do what is right? What about hope, low there too? Are you in the midst of a circumstance that makes it difficult to have a positive outlook? Is there an individual or group of individuals that have you exasperated?
If that is your situation or one of many like it, then take hope my friend. There is good news by means of a promise from God to you.
God’s Divine Power
According to Peter, the power you possess to do everything you need to do today that honors God, exalts Christ, appropriately responds to a neighbor, or anything else that God is calling you to do today is divine power. Peter writes:
3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (2 Peter 1:3-4)
Kinda incredible isn’t it? God provided everything you need that pertains to life and godliness through the knowledge of Christ!
What has God provided? What does this really mean?
When you entered into personal relationship with God through Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, you received everything you needed to live a life that honors Christ. In this new connection with God in Christ you received a new disposition – Peter described it as participating in the divine nature.
As we participate in this new nature with God, our most significant problem is addressed – our sinful desires. You no longer are a slave to your desires. Instead, God provides you both the nature (which provides you the proper motivation) and the power to do what honors Him. In other words, Peter sees our participation in the divine nature as consisting especially in the new ability to resist sin through our union with Christ and the indwelling of the Spirit.
What is next then?
Now we must live consistent with what God has made possible. We must do our due diligence to use the resources God provides us to do what is right.
