He Has Granted us EVERYTHING...

"Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence."  (2 Peter 1:2-3)

This is one of “those” verses bloated with far more theology than we take time to think about. Peter’s opening words almost seem a trite introduction to a letter just to get to the “meat” of his inspired letter.

It is early in the morning that I am writing because of a troubling night in a restless bed. Peace is elusive in these dark moments—moments when the Light of His glory is desperately needed and is the only hope of true rest. As I dragged myself out of bed I asked the Lord, “I NEED your peace Lord… It is THIS peace that Peter prays blessing upon his readers, the peace that passes understanding. Peter continues with the means by which the blessing of God’s grace leading to His peace comes.

“…seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence."

Instead of effort through being more responsible, more faithful, more diligent, more prayerful, more—fill in the blank… this blessing is not something that we produce through anything we have to offer.  Like our salvation, it is been “granted to us” by HIS Divine Power… Rest on that for a while.

This blessing is not disconnected from the Lord Himself like a gift that I drop under the tree at Christmas, or hand you for your birthday.  That gift conveys certain things about how I feel about you or your importance to me. I want it to bring a smile, a thrill perhaps, a good feeling that brings a moment of happiness, but only a moment.  The blessing—the gift—Peter prays is God’s grace and peace that is inextricably wound into the very essence of the Creator Himself.  

So how do we unwrap such a blessing to appreciate and experience its contents? It is revealed when we absorb ourselves with the very essence of The Almighty. It is revealed “…through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence."  Now here is the ringer. There is nothing outside the bounds of God’s wisdom, power and might that cannot dispel the shadows of our doubts, or even the darkness of our innate wickedness. Everything pertaining to Life and Godliness has been GRANTED to us!  It is not earned by us or merited by our diligence. For all of it, even the knowing of it has come to us “…by His own Glory and Excellence.” As usual, God has done it all.

And so that “peace that passes all understanding” Paul writes about is always there waiting for us to soak away the many things that steal our vitality, our sanity and our joy. 

Think about this; Pray about this then take the plunge.

""Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful."  (John 14:27)