2 Peter 1:3–God’s 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.
God has given us everything we need for life. Everything we need for the good parts of life. Everything we need for the bad parts of life. I guess God gets to be the authority on all things life since He is life. God is the Author of Life. He is the Creator of all things. For we read in Colossians 1:16 16 For by Jesus all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
The text goes on to say: He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
You and I are literally held together by the power of Christ. He is enabling our lives in this very moment. I want to offer four statements about life, real life, that can help us lean into what God has for us.
1. To truly live you need to experience the grace of God through salvation.
People who haven’t had their sins forgiven and claimed Christ as Savior and Lord are spiritually dead. They may have a pulse, but they don’t have real life. They don’t have the new life the Bible declares comes to all who are in Christ. Christian songwriter Jeremy Camp puts it this way in his hit song:
I was a dead man walking until I was a man walking with You
I was a blind man falling ’til I felt the life You’re calling me to
Pulling me out of the darkness and pulling me out of the lies
Putting the beat in my heart again
I was a dead man walking until You loved this dead man walking back to life.
God chose us by creating us. He chose us by sending Christ to die a sinless death on the cross that would pay the price for our willful transgressions against God. God has already chosen us. We simply have to choose Him back. And in order to choose Him back, we allow the grace of God to come into our lives by asking for forgiveness of sin. We allow the grace of God to come into our lives to cover our imperfections. We allow the grace of God to carry us forward as we are slowly, step by step being transformed into people who not only want Him and want forgiveness, but as we become people who want to emulate His holiness and love in the world. It’s the first step to eternal life and a daily supernatural life that is led by God rather than a life led by our impulses our intellect or the influences of the world.
2. To truly live you need to acknowledge the presence of God.
Exodus 33:11 tells us: The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Now that is awesome. That is life, friends. When God tabernacles with you, when God speaks to you, when God’s presence saturates your mind and heart and when God is personally instructing you about what is next, that is life. There is nothing better.
In the next verse, verse 12, 12 Moses said to the LORD, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.” 14 The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
Moses wanted to know who he could count on to go with him as he would lead people into the Promised Land. Who was going to be there to support and encourage him? Who would show him the way? Who would keep him company? God reassured Him big time, but it wasn’t with the name of a person or a team of people. God said, “Moses, I will be going with you. I will be your support. I will have your back. I will help you know where to go and what to do. Count on me to lead the way.” And I love verse 14 where God said, “Not only will my presence go with you, but I will give you rest.” Rest in your leadership, Moses. Rest in your journey, Moses. Rest in the trials that are simply part of the journey. God didn’t say, “I will give you ease,” but He said, “I will give you rest.” There is a sense when we are aware that God is present with us that we can rest in knowing He is in charge. He is in control. He is available to us. We are not alone in life’s trials.
3. To truly live you need to trust the promises of God.
The text for from II Peter 1:3 that tells us we have everything we need for life goes on to say in verse 4 that all we need comes to us or is accessed in and through the promises of God and that by accessing those promises, they create a way of escape from this world’s corruption. When life is hard, when we need that way of escape we need to press into the Word of God. We need to consume it like we consume food. Regularly, daily. Just as food goes into our bodies to nourish us, to take life to each cell, to enable each internal system to operate, and to carry away from us those toxins and things we don’t need, God’s Word helps us take in what is needed for life and helps us eliminate that which could harm our lives.
4. To truly live you need to surrender to the plan of God.
Have you ever said this, “My life is ruined.” “I’ll never get over this pain.” “I’ll never forgive him for what he did to me.” “I’ll never be happy again.” “I’ll never recover from this.” “I’ll never trust anyone again.” “I’ll never love again.” “I’ll never be vulnerable again.” “I’ll never feel well again.”
When life hurts, it is easy to let the hurts become the loudest voice and to allow some momentary hurt to become the authority for our future. There are times when we feel as if the hurt in the moment will be the pain that alters our lives forever. Romans 8:28 is tucked into the NT not just so that every pastor can have at least one feel-good message each year. It is there because those who live with Christ live with the reality that no life experience, no crushing blow, no unexpected suffering can change the plan of God.
When bad things happen, when there is profound loss, you can remind yourself that God is always good and He is always working things for our good. God isn’t the Author of pain, but He lovingly uses every part of our story to write something beautiful. Real life is discovered when we lean on the One who knows how our story is supposed to end.
God has a detailed plan for your life and mine. We need to let God bring definition to the bad things that happen to us so that we do not define ourselves and our futures by them based on our limited understanding. And sometimes that takes a minute. You can’t correctly look back on something until you have first gotten through something. Part of trusting God’s plan is giving God time to work without jumping to our earthly conclusions. Even our mess ups and mistakes, even what has been done to us can work out for our good if we will trust God. If you will let God lead you through the bad times, He will take you to places and spaces that leave you stronger, refreshed, refocused, and even rejoicing.
So that’s it. You have read four statements about how real life can be accessed and lived well. Will you let God show you, teach you, and equip you how to do this thing called life?
