Living a godly life. 2 Peter 1:3-11
December 30, 2008 by kristinemac
Filed under Life Stuff
Do you ever wonder what it means to live a godly life in today’s instant gratification world? I do. I think about it a lot actually, because I realize how, over the past forty some odd years of my life, I often have not.
How many times have I been impatient at the grocery store, muttering under my breath in annoyance at the slowness of the cashier, because I was behind my time but stopped at the store for a bottle of soda on the way to work? How many times have I not only been tempted to cuss out the driver who cuts me off, but show my displeasure with a particularly rude hand gesture? What about the times I’ve cut off someone in a conversation so I could get my two cents in, or bought something I really wanted because it would be fun to have but didn’t honestly have the money to buy or even need?
And here’s the real question in my mind. Do people who have not asked me know that I am a Christian, or even have a clue, based solely on what they’ve observed by my behavior or heard in my daily conversation? And I dont mean peppering my language with a lot of "hallelujah’s" or "praise the lord’s, but simple interaction with whomever.
Do they see? Do they know? Or am I living in such a way that it’s impossible to tell without guessing?
2 Peter 1:3-11(NLT) reads:
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
Think about these words for a moment.
And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
What an amazing thing those words convey. God has given those of us who come to be in relationship with Him through Jesus Christ everything we need to live according to His will, a godly life. As Christians we have the Holy Spirit abiding within us. I looked up the word "abide" on dictionary.com and it means "to remain, continue, to stay" as well as "to continue in a particular condition, attitude, relationship". I believe the Holy Spirit, abiding in us, is one of the precious promises which the Apostle Peter is referencing in this verse; for as Jesus said in John 14:26 (NIV): "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."
Living a godly life is so much more than living a "religious" life because our God abides with us. Religion indicates a set of beliefs, ritual and specific practices, etc. Abiding with God is being in relationship with Him. Daily. We have the opportunity to know Him personally through daily interaction by prayer, by reading the Bible (which is His inspired word), and by growing to be more like Him. And through the words of 2 Peter 1:5-7 we learn how this works:
In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
Okay, so "supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence", can be very hard to do in our "survival of the fittest" world and for some to even know what that looks like, but honesty in all circumstances…with our spouse, children, finances, and availablity to volunteer for stuff would probably be a place to start. Maybe rethinking what we read, listen to, or watch on television is worth looking into despite the allure of pop culture. Perhaps overcoming the desire to gossip about and criticize people we dont even know, but follow their lives through reality tv or the internet. I know these are all areas of my own life I need to re-evaluate in light of the above scripture and how I can be more godly.
So we know we are to live with moral excellence and then added to that"…moral excellence with knowledge". The best way I know of to get knowledge is to study and as a Christian we have the best resource out there for understanding God and His will…The Bible. The problem is there are a whole lot of Christians (or people who call themselves such) who have never bothered to crack the cover and are relying on what other people say for understanding. Certainly we have wonderful pastors, evangelists, and bible teachers out there, but we truly must balance learning from other people with reading and learning the Bible for ourselves. Ask the Holy Spirit to speak and teach you through those words and you’ll be amazed at how it opens up. Seriously. The world has this idea that Christians are weak minded fools who have no earthly clue about reality or some kind of mindless, blind faith. We are admonished by the Apostle Paul to study the word of God so that we understand the will of God, we can be clued in to false teachings/teachers, and so we can give sound reason for our faith.
Romans 15:4
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
1 Corinthians 15:3
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance : that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.
2 Timothy 3:16
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.
Next on the list to living a godly life would be self control. I struggle with this one so much myself…mainly because I try to handle it on my own rather than asking God for help and guidance. And self control comes in many areas. Spending money we dont have rather than living within our means. Eating more food than our body needs. Drinking a few more beers or mixed drink than is necessary simply because everyone else is doing it. Staying up late when you know you have to get up early. Using coarse language at any time. Reading or watching porn. Interupting or belitteling your husband as he tries to tell a story. Making fun of your wife mean spiritedly when she’s not in the room or even if she is. There are a lot of areas of self control.
The next two in the list are patient endurance and godliness.
Have you ever been waiting for something to happen in your life and for whatever reason God puts a hold on the expected answer? It’s happened more times to me than I can say and each time I have failed to patiently endure, but rather get huffy with God and give up or try to do whatever it is on my own terms, failing miserably. Waiting patiently, enduring, bearing up with grace and dignity under the weight of opposition, all of these encompass patient endurance and can do so much in helping us grow in faith and trust in God’s provision, not to mention godly character. Maintaining a godly attitude in all circumstances, which this whole thing is about, is kind of the goal isnt it? We want to be more like Christ.
God’s spirit within us helps us to do all of it if we are willing to yield ourselves and follow His lead, loving others, being loving toward others, even if they are not exactly friendly toward us. A Christian who lives daily in relationship with God, who makes every effort to respond to His precious promises, because as Peter reminds us, if we do these thing…live daily with moral excellence, knowledge, self control, patient endurance, godliness, brotherly affection, and love…we will be like Christ, and the world will recognize us as His own.
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2 Peter 1: 3-11
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.
So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away. Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
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