Thursday, April 6, 2017
“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life
through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and
goodness.” (2 Peter 1:3 NIV)
The Apostle
Peter says in his letter that the Lord’s divine power has given us
everything we need for a godly life. If that’s so, then why are many
Christians not living more victorious lives? Because of the biblical
principle: “according to your faith, be it unto you.” But it can’t
just be faith in faith itself. It’s faith in Christ and all that he
accomplished on the cross and by his resurrection power.
Do we
really believe that we have what we need spiritually for life’s journey
here on earth? The father of the demon-possessed boy had to cry out to
God, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
We can
do the same; and the Lord is indeed able to increase our faith. But we
have an adversary who tells us that we’re not worthy to get more faith
or the things we need from Christ; that we’re not living the way we
ought to; that we’re not good enough. The purpose of that is to get us
looking inward, and to get us looking down; and the minute we do it,
we’re done. Why? Because the Bible says, “[Look] unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). This means looking up! We can’t look in; we’ve got to look up, to Christ.
God
already knows how weak we are and where we’ve failed. And as long as
we’re walking in the light and we confess our sins, he is faithful and
just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But Satan
will do anything to stop Christians from looking to Jesus. When he
tells us we’re not good enough, we have to say, “Get thee behind me,
Satan. I may not be good enough, but Christ died for me and makes me
accepted by God!”
Let’s look up to Christ
Jesus, who has sat down at the right hand of God and is right now making
intercession on behalf of you and me. Don’t think that looking down,
and feeling glum, is going to get you anything but depressed. It’s not a
sign of humility, but of defeat; and the Bible says that “we are more
than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37)! So today,
let’s look up, not down! And by faith we will have all that we need for a
godly life on this side of eternity!
Read 2 Peter 1:3-11.