He Gives Us All We Need

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire” (2 Peter 1:3-4).

Have you ever faced a circumstance in life in which you simply didn’t feel prepared or equipped? Perhaps you lacked wisdom to make an important decision. Or maybe you faced a new role—like marriage or motherhood—and didn’t know what to expect. Maybe you encountered a season of intense suffering and simply didn’t have the strength to endure it. In this passage, Peter tells us that God has given us all that we need to live for the glory of God. Whatever the circumstance, believers have “all things that pertain to life and godliness.” Calvin describes this as “God has copiously unfolded the immense resources of his power.”

Do we live as though that is true?

Does “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” only refer to things like learning and studying the Bible? Or maybe serving in a ministry at the church? Or to the work of missions? Is it limited to certain areas of life?

What about when we’ve been without a job for a year? Does his divine power grant us what we need then too? Or when we’ve been betrayed by one we’ve loved and trusted? Or when we learn our child has a disability? Or when we receive hard news from the doctor about recent blood work?

Does God’s divine power provide what we need for life and godliness in the face of hard things?

Matthew Henry notes that “all things” includes: “All things that have any relation to, and influence upon, the true spiritual life, the life and power of godliness, are from Jesus Christ; in him all fulness dwells, and it is from him that we receive, and grace for grace (Jn. 1:16), even all that is necessary for the preserving, improving, and perfecting of grace and peace.”

Life in this fallen world is filled with hardship. None of us escape the effects of sin, whether our own sin, other’s sin against us, or the effects of sin on the created world around us. As Jesus pointed out, he didn’t come to save those who are healthy, but those who are sick (Mk. 2:17). This means, God doesn’t call to himself those who are capable, prepared, and equipped. He doesn’t call those who already have it all together. He calls the desperate, the weak, the needy. He calls messy sinners to himself by his grace, through faith in the Son, and saves us from sin. He then gives us everything we need to live for him in this world. He gives us the spiritual wisdom we need to navigate difficult decisions. He gives us strength to do the things he’s called us to. He gives us grace upon grace. And he does so through “knowledge of him.” Faith in Christ is the conduit through which we receive “all things.”

In Christ, we have all that we need to live for the glory of God.

Peter then tells us that we becomes “partakers of the divine nature” through “his precious and very great promises.” God’s word—his promises to us—changes and transforms us through the work of the Spirit who sanctifies us by the word of truth (Jn. 17:17). We are being remade into the image bearers we were created to be. And the Westminster Confession points out that our ability to live a life of godliness comes from the Spirit (16.3) who works in us to put sin to death and put on righteousness. The Spirit convicts, encourages, teaches, and transforms us to live as children of the Father.

God calls us to himself and then supplies what we need to live for him. In whatever circumstances we face, we can turn to him, cry out in prayer, and ask him to supply the wisdom, strength, endurance, and help we need to live for him.

Photo by Amy Tran on Unsplash

The Importance of Struggle

When my kids were young, we spent our days doing science experiments. We studied everything from animals to geology, plants to electronics. Unfortunately for me, some of our experiments included bugs and other like creatures—not a personal favorite! They once had a ant farm where we received an envelope in the mail filled with ants and had to somehow get them all inside a clear plastic rectangular box where they would proceed to tunnel through thick gel while we watched them do their ant thing. Another time, my son decided he wanted to watch the life cycle of meal worms—these we kept in the garage, because, ew! The only one I tolerated was when we studied butterflies.

Like the ant farm, this kit sent caterpillars in the mail that we then had to feed and leave in a mesh enclosure and wait for them to grow, molt, form a chrysalis, and then change into butterflies before setting them free. It’s a fascinating process and one which you are likely familiar. One interesting fact is that when they are about to emerge from the chrysalis, they release a chemical that strengthens their wings so they can fly. They will move inside the chrysalis, pumping this chemical throughout their wings. They have to remain hanging upside down during this process. If they release from the chrysalis early, before this process is complete, their wings will be useless. This means the struggle is important and necessary for their survival as butterflies.

As a rule, we as humans tend to shy away from struggle. We want growth without the growing pains. We want strength without the work. We want God to make us holy immediately rather than have us go through the refiner’s fire. We want life to go smoothly, without hardship or trial. And we want that for our loved ones as well. But the Bible tells us that is not how God works in our lives. It is through struggle that we are transformed. As Paul wrote in Romans 5: “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” (vv.3-4). Hebrews 12 teaches that God disciplines or trains us in order to make us holy and the process is for our good: “he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (vv.10-11).

The Reformer, Martin Luther, describes the Christian life as one of growth. It is a process: “This life therefore is not righteousness, but growth in righteousness, not health, but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it, the process is not yet finished, but it is going on, this is not the end, but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory, but all is being purified.” God is preparing us now for eternity. He is stripping away all that is impure within us. He is reshaping us into the image of his Son. And one day, when we stand in his presence, that process will be complete. We will be whole and healed. We will be glorified.

When we watched our butterflies do their work to leave their chrysalis, had we interfered in some way, or tried to quicken the process, we would have kept them from transforming into butterflies. They needed to struggle. And when they finished the struggle and began flying around the little mesh tent, we brought them outside, unzipped the door, and set them free.

We are all in process. God is doing a good work in us. May we not resist the struggle.

Photo by Dominik Rešek on Unsplash

Strengthen What is Weak

For the past few weeks I’ve been in physical therapy. I did something to my shoulder—at my age it might have just been doing something as simple as brushing my hair— and the pain was excruciating. The therapist describes it as a shoulder impingement. Basically, my tendon is pinched every time I move my arm. As a result, my range of motion is limited and I can’t hardly reach behind me without pain radiating down my arm.

The physical therapist told me that the main treatment is strengthening the muscles all around the affected area. To that end, I have exercises I’m assigned each day. I’ve since realized how connected everything is in my body. The time I spend hunched over my computer each day affects my back, which in turns affects my shoulder and arm. Areas of weakness in one location trigger other areas of my body.

And as I’ve labored to strengthen what is weak in my arm, shoulder, and back, I can’t help but think of the parallels to my spiritual life.

When I struggle with sin or find myself slogging through a difficult trial or even find myself in an extended dry season of faith, I wonder, are there areas of weakness that are in some way contributing to it? Or keeping me mired down in the weeds? Or making it more difficult to remember what is true? And if so, what areas in my spiritual life need strengthening? And in strengthening those areas, how might that impact my bigger struggles?

Such weaknesses could be anything. From idols of my heart to plain weariness from living life in a fallen world, there are many areas of my faith that need strengthening. Whether it’s identifying temptations and finding ways to avoid them or developing spiritual habits that feed my soul, when any area of weakness is strengthened, it can only impact my heart for good.

For example, one chronic area of weakness for me is my forgetfulness. I forget the goodness and faithfulness of God. I forget what he has done in the past to deliver me. I forget who I am because of Christ. I forget that he’s given me his Spirit who is at work in me even when I don’t realize it. When I forget these things, it impacts how I face a challenge or trial. When I forget God’s character and then face a difficult struggle, I am likely to think that he has left me, is punishing me, or has forgotten me altogether. When I forget the gospel and who I am because of what Christ has done, I am quick to seek false saviors or rely upon myself. I am also slow to repent and turn from sin. So just like in my physical body, one area of weakness has a ripple effect on the rest.

In truth, I forget all these things when I’m not immersed in the Word where it reminds me who God is and what he has done. I also forget when I’m not responding to what I’ve read through prayer—seeking forgiveness for sin, praising and thanking God for his grace, lamenting my fears and sorrows, and asking for his help and deliverance in my life.

The Word and prayer. Two means of grace whereby we receive the benefits of our salvation. And two key ways God works in us to transform us by the Spirit. Like the exercises I do in physical therapy to strengthen the areas around my injury, these means of grace are used by the Spirit to hot only strengthen our faith but to sanctify us. These means equip us to face what is hard. They help us to identify sin and turn from it. They feed and fuel and sustain us. They change and transform us. Utilizing these means helps us in the face of both temptation and trial. As the psalmist wrote, “With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you…I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word” (Ps. 119:10-11, 15-16). And as our Savior said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

To be honest, the work of physical therapy hurts. Even more than it did when I first injured it! Sometimes I think it would be easier to just not use my arm anymore. After all, I don’t always need two working arms. I could get away with only using one to reach things. Or ask other people to get things for me. But as my therapist tells me, the pain is part of the process. It’s necessary to bring about healing. I need to do the hard work in order to see my arm’s abilities restored.

How true this is in our spiritual lives! The work that the Spirit does to sanctify us is painful. It’s not easy to read and study the Word and allow its probing light to shine upon our sin. It’s not easy to take an honest look at our heart and see areas where we need God’s grace to cleanse and make us new. It’s also stretching and challenging to develop new habits and rhythms to be in the Word and prayer. But whatever stretches us can only make us stronger.

Anyone who has gone through physical therapy or set an athletic goal and achieved it, knows that their labor is not in vain. On the other side of physical therapy or the athletic pursuit, the person is stronger and healthier. How much more so when we utilize the means of grace in our spiritual lives! For as Paul wrote, “for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Tim. 4:8). So utilizing the means God has provided to minister to and strengthen our hearts, through the power of the Spirit, has value not only now, but also into eternity.

Despite the pain, I’m sticking it out with physical therapy and am thankful for the progress I’ve made. Even more, I’m thankful for the grace of God who gave me his Spirit who works in me to change me from the inside out.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

A Bigger Perspective

I’ve always enjoyed art— wandering through galleries and marveling at the way people use color and light to express themselves. I enjoy learning about an artist’s chosen medium, their creative process, and their technique. I’m not an artist myself, though I have taken a few classes because I desire to learn how to express myself creatively.

During a recent family vacation, I took a painting class. We sat in a room, surrounded by glass on all four sides. The Rocky Mountains stretched out before us, its jagged peaks covered with fresh snow, the hills below bright green from recent rainfall. The sky was wide and dappled with clouds, the pond behind the building teeming with birds. It was an ideal spot in which to spend the afternoon with a blank canvas.

The instructor placed his own painting on an easel and invited us to paint something similar. It was a mountain scene and looked like many of the places our family had recently hiked, filled with desert shrubs and rocky cliffs. He walked us through it, teaching us how to paint shapes and mix colors. Not everyone in the class was an artist, so I was happy to learn that I wasn’t the only one who did not know what they were doing!

As I painted, I grew increasingly disappointed. All I could see were lines and shapes. My shrubs looked like large eggs sprouting ears. My mountain looked like a misshapen blob—far from anything majestic. I’d add lines as he instructed, but they didn’t look anything like cliffs or crevasses.

The instructor walked around the room, giving us individual help and guidance. Several times he said, “Every once in a while get out of your chair and step back from the painting and you’ll see it from a different perspective. Up close, it won’t look like anything. But a few feet away it will all make sense.”

I never got up to see it from afar but kept mixing colors and painting away, all the while feeling discouraged that the image I had in my mind was not transferring to the canvas. It wasn’t until I brought it back to our cabin and propped it up on the window sill and looked at it from afar that I saw it as he said. All the lines and shapes that looked so strange up close looked so different a few steps away. My bushes actually did look like bushes! The red rock mountain looked like it had dimension and depth. There were cliffs and crevasses after all. It looked more like a place I had hiked and explored than the smearing of colors it looked like up close.

My painting experience reminded me of how I often view my life—of how I see the picture God is painting. I often only see the trial and hardship I am in at the moment. The brush strokes seem wild and unhinged. The colors look like they’ve been splattered on the canvas with no thought or intention. The shapes don’t resemble anything that makes sense. I feel discouraged and can’t imagine that what I am experiencing has any purpose. How can something so messy and confusing transform into something beautiful? And sometimes, when the trial is especially intense and hard, all I can see are dark brush strokes in one corner of the canvas.

And I wonder, is this all I’ll ever see?

Stepping back from my painting was a reminder that in my own life all I see is one small section of the picture God is painting. I need to step back from time to time to see it from a different angle. To get a new perspective. To see my life in light of the greater work of redemption God is doing in my life. To see it in light of eternity.

While it’s true that I won’t see the full and complete picture until God is finished, but I can get glimpses of it in Scripture. Like an architect’s rendering of a house before it is built, I have God’s promises of what his finished product will look like. I even know other people in my life whose pictures are a bit more developed than mine and I can see the similar work God has done in their lives. But even more, as I study the Bible, I can see the image of Christ that he’s transforming me into. And rather than despair over the seemingly meaningless brush strokes before me, I can turn and instead watch the master Artist at work, shaping my life to image that of Christ.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I get so caught up in looking at the shapes and strokes right before me that I get discouraged. I fear that my life will never take shape or make sense. That’s when I need a bigger perspective. That’s when I need to step back and view my life through the big picture of God’s work of redemption. I need to look at and take in what he’s completed so far and marvel at how far my life has come. But most importantly, I need to remember it’s not yet finished and when it is, it will be even more breathtaking and glorious than anything I’ve ever seen.

“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6).

For Those Prone to Forget

I recently got up and proceeded to get ready for the day, preparing to take my son to school. As I gathered my purse and keys, I called for him, “Are you ready to go?”

He came into the kitchen, still dressed in pj’s. “Mom, it’s Good Friday. I don’t have school today.”

Sigh. Oh, yeah.

I am increasingly forgetful. So much so, I have monthly, weekly, and daily lists to remind me of where I need to go and what I need to do. Apparently, even those aren’t sufficient for me to remember my son has a day off from school.

I don’t know about you, but I am also spiritually forgetful. I go about my day as though my life depends on me. I labor in my own strength. I put my trust in methods, plans, and to-do lists. I fret and worry and fear in the face of challenges and unexpected circumstances. I often feel overwhelmed and ill-equipped. In all these ways and more, I forget the power at work in me. I forget the gospel and its significance, not only for salvation, but for daily life and growth in grace.

The Apostle Peter wrote a letter to a group of believers, reminding them of the gospel and its power to transform them. He reminded them they’ve been given everything they need to live a godly life, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire” (2 Peter 1:3-4). Friends, this is huge! Did you catch that? God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. All things!

He did this through the work of Christ on our behalf, who through his perfect life, sacrificial death, and triumphant resurrection, secured for us all the promises of God. Through faith in Christ, we are united to him. We have the very Spirit of Christ living within us, making us partakers of the divine nature. That word, partakers, in the Greek is koinónos. It means mutual fellowship, sharer, partner. We share in God’s nature as we become increasingly more like Christ, through the power of his Spirit at work in us.

Peter then goes on to describe what it looks like to grow more and more like Christ (vv.5-7). These are qualities that characterize sharing in the divine nature. They are the natural outworking of the Spirit’s power in and through us. These qualities help us bear fruit for the Kingdom (v.8). These are not characteristics that save us; rather, they are produced in us by the Spirit as we live out the realities of our salvation in Christ.

• virtue

• knowledge

• self-control

• steadfastness

• godliness

• brotherly affection

• love

He then cautions, “For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins” (v.9). Peter could refer here to those who verbally expressed faith in Christ but did not have a transformed heart. Or he could refer to true Christians who have wandered from the truth. Either way, such forgetfulness is serious. Friends, it is crucial that we remember our salvation. The good news of the gospel is that not only are we saved by grace, but we are also transformed by grace. God calls us to grow in the likeness of Christ and then he provides us all we need to do so. Amazing grace!

When we find ourselves living life apart from the gospel; when we find ourselves living as though everything is up to us and our own strength, wisdom, and power; when we find ourselves stagnant in our growth in godliness; we need to remember the gospel which saved us. We need to remember the promises of God for us in Christ: We are his children (Jn. 1:12); He will make us like the Son (1 Jn 3:2); He will persevere us to the end (Phil. 1:6); We have an inheritance in heaven (1 Pet. 1:4), among many others.

Forgetting what day it is (an all too often problem for me!) is a challenge. Forgetting an appointment is problematic. Forgetting the one thing you went to the grocery store to pick up is annoying. But forgetting what Christ has done for us in the gospel is far worse. May we go to great lengths to remember and rehearse the truths of the gospel each day, relishing in the truth that God has given us everything we need to live for him.

When You Need Hope for the New Year

As 2020 came to a close, I don’t know about you, but I breathed a sigh of relief. I was all too ready to close that difficult chapter on a very hard year. To put the chaos and heartache of the year behind me. To move on to something new and better.

Flipping the calendar page to a fresh new year always gives me a sense of anticipation. Expectation. Hope. Promise. Do you ever feel that way? Do you ever think: Maybe this year will be the year I finally_____. Change jobs? Move? Get married? Have a baby? Grow the ministry? See that goal I’ve worked so hard for finally come to fruition?

And above all, move on from a pandemic?

For some of us though, a new year may not announce a new opportunity or bring hope for change or provide anticipation that a dream will come true. Rather, it rings in with dread, fear, or disappointment. For some, an unwanted medical procedure looms on the horizon. For others, a new year brings a job loss or worse, another year of unemployment. Some flip the calendar page knowing that the relationship conflict they've been in all last year will only continue on into the next or that the grief they carried in 2020 will only follow them into 2021. 

Not everyone will see this new year as the promise of something new and better, but more of the same, and perhaps, the announcement of something worse. 

If you are looking at the year ahead and feel a sense of dread, I want to encourage you. If you fear that 2021 will simply be a repeat of 2020, I want to point you to hope. 2021, though filled with unknowns, is not unknown. Though it may contain heartache, challenge, and difficulty, is not a year to fear. That's because God knows what lies ahead for you. He knows each day and every moment to come. As David wrote, "all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be" (Psalm 139:16). All the days of this year have been written in God's book and he writes a good story. He carefully constructed the moments of 2021 in exactly the right order as they should be. He wove the threads of time to bring about what you need most this year.

For those who trust in Christ for their salvation, God has promised to work all things—the good, the not-so-good, and the bad—together for ultimate good. "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified" (Romans 8:28-30).

While we tend to start a new year with grand plans and a few weeks later, give up and move on, God finishes what he starts. Those whom he chose before all time, he also called to himself. Those whom he called to be his own, he also saved by grace, through the blood of Christ. Those whom he saved, he also transforms and makes holy. From before the beginning of time, to this moment now, God is unfolding and following through on his plan to redeem and transform both you and I into the likeness of Jesus.  

As you stand on the precipice of 2021, don't fear the future for it is in the hands of your sovereign God. Don't dread the unknown for it is fully known by your omniscient Father. Don't grow weary by the challenges to come, for God is with you. He is actively involved in every moment you face this year and is your help in all trouble (Psalm 46:1). He is your refuge and your strength. He will never leave you.

Whatever challenges or trials come your way this year, remember God is and what he has done. Remember that he is good and righteous and sovereign. Remember that he loved you before time began and chose you to be his beloved. Remember that he sacrificed his Son to redeem you and make you his own. Remember that he gave you his Spirit to work in you, in both the good and the bad, to change and re-shape you. And remember, unlike New Year's resolutions, God always finishes what he starts (Philippians 1:6).  

Instead of the New Year being a harbinger of bad things to come, may it instead be a reminder of the One who is even now making all things new—including each of us. May Christ be our source of hope in 2021.